Celebrities Books

Of course few places inspire such passion as Italy, but I've read the NYC version as well and found it much more intruguing than this one. It seems as if most of the entries concern Georgian architecture and stodgy gardens. Did Thatcher kill lively London?

This is the quintessential guide for anyone who wants to visit the rare and cool side of London. I found a lot of really wonderful ?off the beaten path? kind of places via this guide. It has great, quirky restaurant suggestions, and tips on getting into strange museums (like the type museum!). A must have for those of us who like to pretend we?re locals and know all the ?secrets? of the city.

LONDON CITY SECRETS is a little book of good places to visit the next time you're in England. The authors describe their book as a "highly subjective" collection of recommendations, not an all-inclusive list of places to eat, sleep, visit in London. The folks making the recommendations are artists, writers, historians, and others who live and work in London. They share favorite spots to eat; favorite paintings, sculptures or museums; favorite walks, historical houses and other spots discovered over the years.

LONDON CITY SECRETS is divided into 13 areas: 1/ Trafalgar Square, Soho and Covent Garden; 2/ St James, Westminster, & the Embankment; 3/ Hyde Park & Chelsea; 4/ Oxford Street and Mayfair; 5/ Regent's Park & Camden Town; 6/ Bloomsbury & King's Cross; 7/ Islington & Clerkenwell; 8/ The City (of London); 9/ The South Bank; 10/ Notting Hill & The West; 11/ Hampstead & The North; 12/ The East End & Beyond; and 13/ South of the River.

Because the selections are subjective, the National Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum are mentioned, whereas the National Maritime Museum is not. Fortnum and Mason is included, Mark's & Spencer is not. Scrubb's prison is listed, the Tower of London is not. Plenty of good places to eat are listed, no good places to sleep are included. Never thought you'd visit Islington? You might find yourself eating at the Smithfield Market, Moro's, or the Quality Chop House. Think the East End is a dump? You might discover a science fiction ride on the nighttime tube.

Symbols are placed next to sites with London Underground stops and places to eat. Plenty of bars, pubs, and other assorted oddball watering holes are included. The various authors, artists, etc. also recommend plenty of additional reading material about favorite spots. LONDON CITY SECRETS is eccentric, esoteric, and entertaining.

You will need time to make the purchase of this book worthwhile. London is gigantic. It's difficult enough to hit the very well documented high points. If you are making your first trip and/or have less than a week, stick to Eyewitness. If you are a repeat offender, disinterested in the main tourist attractions, or have a lot of time, you will not regret this purchase. This guide will get you off the beaten track and provide advice about how to avoid being trampled when you are on it.

The "City Secrets" series is based on contributions solicited from expats and locals living in the city of interest. This distinct approach has two very pleasant benefits to the reader: first, the recommendations are written with style and panache distinct to each contributor (the artists recommend arty stuff and describe how things look), and second, the recommendations are the sort you get from people who live and breathe in the city rather than just the rest of us, who just run-in-see-the-sights-turn-around-run-home.

City Secrets: London is even better than other European entrants (say, the Rome book), because virtually everyone writing for the book seems to be a permanent resident, rather than a on-and-off-again visitor.

So, rather than hotels and a greatest-hits list of museums, you get favorite places to walk, nice places to have a cuppa on the way, museums you would discover only on the third walk down the street. Not all of them are "secrets" in the sense you wouldn't otherwise have known about them, but all of them are worth knowing.

There is a slight tendency toward redundancy, when multiple contributors mention the same destination. But this is a very minor complaint. This little gem of a book should be slipped into your pocket for the plane ride over; it will add more to your vacation than any number of more traditional guides.

This is a huge book with lots of information. Unfortunately if you are looking at more details into the stars' death then this is sort of a dissapointment. It focuses more on the life story of each star instead of their death. But don't get me wrong it is a good book. If you want more morbid details of their deaths etc then Hollywood Babylon is a better choice.

I discovered this book at a book store chain but found - of course - a much better price here on Amazon. This book is loaded with succinct but thorough write-ups of every Hollywood celebrity you can imagine who met an untimely death. Macabre but fascinating, it is also loaded to the hilt with photos.

Cut! is a densely illustrated compendium of Hollywood's luminaries whose lives have been touched by tragedy, either in their career or in real life. The subtitle indicates "Hollywood murders, accidents, and other tragedies." The expected appear (Sharon Tate, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, William Desmond Taylor, Thelma Todd, Irving Thalberg) but there are a number of obvious stories missing. There is no Peg Entwhistle, the actress who in 1932 famously flung herself to her death from the "H" in the Hollywoodland sign. No Bob Crane, bludgeoned to death in his bed in Phoenix, Arizona, by persons unknown. No Paul Bern, shot to death in Jean Harlow's closet, perhaps by himself, perhaps by an abandoned ex-lover. As someone else pointed out, Olive Thomas, dead from ingesting bichloride of mercury in Paris, is missing; she exists only as a sentence in a page on husband Jack Pickford. Louise Brooks, whose exit from Tinseltown was of her own volition, and who died at a relatively advanced age in Rochester, NY, probably should have been included, rather than some of the little-known players who make an appearance (Ormer Locklear, for example, who died in an airplane stunt in 1920). Jon-Erik Hexum, who accidentally shot himself on the set of his TV series in the 1980s, is missing, arguably more remembered than Gloria Dickson or Dorothy Dell.



More than half the book is made up of people who died relatively young of diseases after having a Hollywood career (Lee Remick, John Garfield, Montgomery Clift), not what I would term a typical Hollywood tragedy conjured up by the title. There is a wealth of information on most celebrities, with very little I saw in the way of errors. One mistake appears twice: in two photo captions from the movie "Poltergeist," the boy in the movie (Oliver Robbins) is miscredited as Heather O'Rourke. Vic Morrow's accidental death along with two children by helicopter blade is relegated to a back section on movie-set tragedies. I am also uncertain as to why Linda Darnell, a B-movie actress, and Richard Farnsworth, a stuntman who came to acting late in life, rate two pages, while more major stars and award-winners like Betty Grable, Judy Holliday, Frank Morgan, Dick Powell, are summed up in one page. Perhaps it is due to the amount of "tragedy" in the subject's life: poor asylum inmate Frances Farmer gets two pages as well.



Also included are quite a number of obscurities, which may be is due to the book's main compilers being film professors and librarians. Who remembers Lya De Putti? Gilda Gray? Rita Johnson? Charles Ray? Mitzi Green? The average film fan has no idea who these long-lost people are, and the extent of their contribution to filmland seems slight.



The print is also exceedingly small, probably in an effort to keep the book from being encyclopedia-sized. Although, I could just be aging...



However, all that being said, it's still a nice reference book for people who love film and celebrities, keeping in mind some of it's more obvious exclusions.

I was very impressed by how fast I received my book after ordering it. It didn't take long at all, in fact, I received it at least 2 days sooner than promised. The book was in excellent condition when I received it and I carry it with me to read whenever I know I'll have extra time.

I'm looking forward to my next purchase.

I've been a movie buff since the early 70's, and by now, I thought I pretty much knew it all. This book offers readable, accurate and oftentime surprising biographies of so many people. Reading it, I was blown away by how much (of what I thought to be) obscure information was packed into each page. This book is worth every penny.

Bill Boggs has to be one of the most personable TV hosts around. In this book he turns his years of interviews with the most successful people in many fields into a must-read volume for anyone interested in learning the keys to success. Boy, do I wish I had a book like this when I was younger and struggling with career-path decisions - the insight and advice from these leaders would have been invaluable to me. As it is, I plan on giving a copy to my son, who is just starting out on his professional career. Highly recommended!

I purchased the book for my son who recently graduated from college and started his first job. I read it first and have gained many ideas to use for myself in my own sales career. I highly recommend this book for anyone needing inspiration for moving to the next plateau.

One of my hobbies is seeking out and reading excellent books. Not merely good books, but A+ ones. Life is too short for anything less. Bill Boggs' Got What It Takes?: Successful People Reveal How They Made It to the Top makes it onto my list of such best books. It's easy and fun to read, and you end up learning many wonderful life lessons and acquiring priceless nuggets of wisdom from people who've reached the top of the ladder in their professions. These are hard-won insights we're talking about, easily yours for the taking. What I also like about this book is that the author includes himself as one of the subjects, satisfying your natural curiosity to know more about the person taking you on this literary journey.

One of the side benefits is you become acquainted on an intimate, human level with celebrity types normally out of reach. You share in their private thoughts and learn of their ups and downs -- that, in fact, they're on the same journey as everyone else. I was especially impressed by the detailed "roadmap" to success spelled out in the book, as delineated by the chapter headings. If you've never had a wise parent or relative, or mentor, help you in your life, this book is the next best thing. And it's a work you can return to again and again. I recommend it.

I bought this as a graduation present for some cousins of mine and they LOVED it-- it's really perfect for a high school or college grad, because there's so many different types of careers represented, and so many people that everyone's heard of, everyone can learn from. One cousin has no idea what she wants to major in-- I didn't want to buy her anything in any one field, but give her something that would stay useful to her in years to come.

This book came as a total surprise. I thought it's only for young upwardly mobile go-getters and not for us "boomers" on the verge of retirement but I was wrong. This is a book for everyone. Inspirational and funny, well organized and insightful. Mr. Boggs gets inside the personalities of the people he interviews and translates their formulas for success into entertaining and life-changing chapters. This is a wonderful book for everyone - whether you want to have a successful career, successful marriage or even just a succesful day. And if you're looking for a great graduation gift to inspire someone just starting out -this it it.

The Importance of Being Visible
By Brett M. Decker
Success in business is often based on philosophical nuances. For example, there is a fine but essential difference between vanity and a desire for high visibility. Vanity, according to one raggedy old dictionary, is excessive pride in qualities or appearances that lack genuine value. The hunt for high visibility, on the other hand, is often part of an effort to add value to individuals, organizations or operations that already have legitimate worth but would benefit by calling greater attention to their positive traits. The newly released, highly revised third edition of High Visibility: Transforming Your Personal and Professional Brand (McGraw-Hill, 2006, $27.95), by Michael Alan Hamlin, Philip Kotler, Irving Rein and Martin Stoller, takes a hard look at why being seen can be as important as having vision.
The book's first nuggets of classical business wisdom center on the fundamental need to establish a brand identity. Essentially, this boils down to crafting, controlling and communicating an individual and recognizable image. As the authors write, the goal is to "deeply imprint the product in the minds of some target audience so that it is well understood, recognizable, desirable--and recalled when buying decisions are contemplated." In this way, branding is one of the fundamental tactics to successful business strategy.
This manner of imaging is no longer chiefly in the realm of corporations, as individuals increasingly are developing their own personal brands. In the case of an entertainer such as Jennifer Lopez, also known as J Lo, personal celebrity is used to sell consumer products based on her fame itself. Or in the case of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, a CEO's swashbuckling image provides an identity for a corporate brand despite the fact that most of its diverse product line has little to do with Sir Richard's personality. He simply adds an instantly recognizable face and reputation to the conglomerate's name.
As these two case studies reveal, visibility is intrinsic to branding. Whether it is by walking down the red carpet at the Academy Awards, giving a speech at a charitable event, or by having her personal life exposed in the tabloids, J Lo maximizes her profit by maximizing her visibility. The more she appears in public, the more of her records or name-brand blue jeans she sells. Or as Mr. Hamlin and his co-authors put it, "In an age when people, places and things can be mass manufactured and easily made into commodities, name recognition becomes one of the few saleable factors that can bring a premium in a competitive marketplace."
Turning a good reputation into a solid brand is not only for superstars and corporate titans. The same rules apply in a small town, in a firm, or within a given profession. At the heart of the matter is the concept of transformation, which is based on studying what is needed at a particular time and changing oneself to be able to satisfy these needs. In other words, it is always smart to acquire skills that are in demand.
Whether you are J Lo or Joe Six-pack, one's skills and experience become more visible--and thus more sought after--by deftly calling attention to where and how these skills add value in a targeted market. This is marketing oneself. As the authors instruct, "Launching a personal quest for high visibility is very much like launching a new product or service." Success comes from studying the market and performing competitively to supply what it demands.
Of course, all good mothers beat it into their kids' brains that it is proper to keep one's head down and not call undue attention to oneself. That can be true, but not all the skills necessary to making money can be honed in finishing school. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde quipped that, "There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." The naked truth in this statement is that seeking visibility is nothing to blush about when building and promoting a brand, whether it be corporate or personal. There can be significant value and profit in being a household name. As any savvy old socialite will attest, and as you will be taught in the pages of High Visibility, it truly is important to be seen.
Brett M. Decker is a former editor and writer for The Wall Street Journal and a former editorial board member of the Washington Times.

Just standing in front of the four, multi-tiered shelves full of "Branding" books by the hundreds in your local Barnes & Noble or Borders can be an exasperating experience. Of course you know how important the subject is, but you can't understand why all these branding experts haven't found a real "Brand Differentiation" to their books.

Well High Visibility, by Rein, Kotler, Hamlin and Stoller is really a brand apart from the parking lot of branding books littering the shelves of most bookstores.

There are two levels to High Visibility. Separately they would be each well worth the read and the "$17.61 & free Super Saver Shipping" that Amazon is currently offering.

On the first level, High Visibility is a tightly woven practical presentation and analysis of the strategic design, implementation processes, transformation techniques and commercial implications of modern personal and professional branding. Their conclusions are not mere opinion and wine bar gossips. These are professionally and academically researched and annotated studies which are presented in easy and readable style for those of us who are; shall we say, less academically inclined.

But it is the second level that High Visibility opens the curtain to a strategic view of how society relates to itself. I am not sure whether the authors intended it or not, but it doesn't really matter. The studies, analysis and examples they use shine a spotlight on understanding the effects and implications of what "celebrity" and the often synthetic nature of that celebrity, means to how we as individuals and institutions affect each other. The reach of their celebrity study is breathtaking. From Rudy Giuliani's love life to Michael Moore's packaging of outrage. And given the current attention to the Da Vinci Code, they are almost prophetic in the analysis of author Dan Brown's personal brand and its divergence from the character in his writings.

My only criticism is that they missed the most powerful symbol of the deprivation of celebrity culture....Paris Hilton

The absence of Paris Hilton not withstanding, when both levels of High Visibility are taken together, they paint a complete portrait of the power and implications of modern celebrity branding on the commercial, political and cultural landscapes of the post internet world.

Buy High Visibility! Read High Visibility! Learn High Visibility!

Hollywood's star system pervades global culture. While there are tens of thousands of aspiring actresses in film capitals around the world, only Reese Witherspoon can command $18 million a picture. Whether you sell real estate, defend criminals, lift faces, opine on the economy, or consult to managers, you are among millions of others aspiring to reach the peak of your profession. And why not? In these and many other endeavors, the top fraction of 1% receive a disproportionate share of the rewards.

The Third Edition of High Visibility can help you win this star system. Having just completed reading the book, there were four sections that particularly caught my attention:

* Chapter 4's Visibility Hierarchy introduced a compelling way to chart an individual's visibility on a two dimensional scale mapping visibility duration (from a day to forever) against visibility reach (from global to international). I found this a useful way to assess one's position in the hierarchy and to consider one's future.

* Chapter 5's 22 Major Storylines highlighted popular media story concepts such as "success/failure/success" or "the big break" illustrating them with individuals who fit these storylines. This list struck me as a very useful way to brainstorm story ideas for editors and writers.

* Chapter 6's four basic charisma strategies fascinated me. Detailing approaches such as "The Impressive Stranger" or "Charisma Through Audience Mastery" I was struck by the example of how Scarlett Johansson's performance in Lost in Translation helped her emerge from the pack.

* Chapter 11's Visibility Life Cycles presented seven standard patterns of visibility which reinforced to me the evanescent nature of fame -- highlighting the need to adapt effectively in order to maintain visibility.

While I was flattered that Chapter 6 began by recounting how I've tried to generate visibility over the years, I found the concepts and anecdotes presented here offered me new and thought-provoking insights.

If you're aspiring to reach the top of your profession, High Visibility is a must read.

NOTE: The remarks which follow discuss the updated third edition of a book first published in 1987 and then revised ten years later. Be aware of the fact that several of the other Customer Reviews are of earlier editions.

As the authors explain in their Preface, "In High Visibility, we address the growth of visibility seeking and the contribution of visibility and strong personal brands to competitiveness and opportunity generation in a systematic format....Central to the book's foundation is the concept of [begin italics] transformation [end italics], the process that aspirants typically undergo to become personal and professional brands. We take the reader through all the stages of the transformation process, including brand generation, testing, refinement, realization, distribution, and sustaining." Here are some of the questions to which the authors respond brilliantly:

1. How to break through a cluttered, fragmented, and global marketplace?

2. When doing so, how to manage and balance the demands of the private-public self?

3. How to prioritize public and private goals and aspirations?

4. How to achieve visibility more cost-effectively?

5. How to formulate an appropriate high visibility strategy?

6. How to integrate technological decisions with that strategy?

7. How to inventory your talent threshold and, when doing so, be realistic?

I greatly appreciate the authors' provision of all manner of reader-friendly sections and devices which both summarize key points and facilitate convenient review later of those. For example, Figure 3-7 (page 46), which illustrates the "Structure of the Visibility Industry"; a boxed check-list (page 75) which identifies and then briefly explains the reasons why intensive transformation and image-building activity, while accelerating in all sectors, are doing so at different rates; another boxed check-list (page 146) which identifies and then briefly explains five focal areas of the cultural environment that are especially important to monitor; and finally, for present purposes, a brief but revealing review (page 287) of the publicist's ten most major functions.

Near the end of their book, the authors discuss business executive Ed Brill and wellness doctor Steven Lamm who have successfully adapted to the new visibility environment by combining their talents with visibility practices and principles. Others who also aspire to do so must focus on two critical issues: "First, no matter how the competitive environment changes, aspirants must pay close attention to the fundamentals of high visibility marketing as they are the centerpieces of any plan. Second, aspirants must be aware of the future challenges that impact the process of attaining visibility and be prepared for powerful responses." The authors then suggest five key principles to guide and inform such initiatives.

For several reasons, this third revised edition of High Visibility is far superior to earlier editions. First and obviously, the authors have the substantial advantage of perspective on what has happened (and not happened) during the last 19 years as more and more people have absorbed, digested, and then applied the core concepts provided in the first edition. Also, as a result, the authors have much more material to work with as the number of opportunities and venues to establish high visibility has so rapidly increased. Finally, the authors have taken full advantage of their opportunity to revise, refine, and develop those core concepts in much greater depth, using current or recent examples previously not available.

High Visibility is a brilliant achievement.

First, I read the 1987 edition of this book. Saying it is pretty much the same and just mildy updated...

This isn't a nuts-n-bolts how-to book on becoming a celebrity. For that, you'll have to read elsewhere. HOWEVER, this is an absolute must-read for all wannabe, current, and former celebrities and those that make people celebrities. I've never come across a book that has exposed the foundations of celebritydom as this book has. It's "Audience Intensity Ladder" alone is worth picking up this book. Since 1987, I've regularly re-read my highlights of this book and I commonly recommend it to the posters of the four business newsgroups I co-moderate. Those being misc.business.marketing.moderated, misc.business.moderated, misc.business.consulting, and misc.entrepreneurs.moderated.

This cookbook has so much to offer! I gave it my father as a gift and every time I go home now he has something new to cook out of it and it gets more and more delicious ! I know the cookbook will satisfy even the beginner cook!

I love this book! Some really delicious summer fare. Be sure to try the scallops recipe! Most recipes are fairly easy and interesting. My only complaint is that Mario uses some ingredients that are not in my cupboard, and some not even found in my rural area. Am looking forward to trying more recipes.

the ingredients are really hard for me to find. I think all of his recipes would be GREAT if I could only find the stuff to make them.

I am cooking my way through this book. So far everything I've made has turned out perfectly. Mario knows how to construct a recipie that lets the food shine through. Recommend this highly to everyone who wants a solid go-to reference to making excellent food.

So far, every recipe I have tried has been great. I LOVE the fact that there are plenty of non-meat recipes. Don't get me wrong. I love meat, but I have friends who have grilling parties. This lets me bring alternative dishes that aren't the same old thing.

My typical M.O. is to put bookmarks on the main recipes I want to try. With Italian Grill, there were so many recipes I want to try, that I didn't even bother.

Definitely will be using this for tailgating.

There are some really crazy stories in this book; the LAPD history is most interesting and a bit scary. I would have liked a few more murders and not so many 'monster' stories, but I still really enjoyed it and loved that each story was only a few pages long. Lots of great photographs too.

If you love the seedy underbelly of all things that glitter (I know I do!), you GOTTA get this book! Great history!

Covers most anything of mystery about L.A. and then some. From the extremely weird, to Hollywood scandals. No one is spared here; from Barbara Streisand to Keanu Reeves. But the one highlight for me was the mention of one of my most frightening childhood memories, the strange appearance of what we in South Central commonly referred to as "The Wolf Woman." You don't find much on this eerie phenomenon of the early 1960s. Mr. Young has done his homework well. You won't find it easy to put down, especially if you're from L.A.

This book contains 297 full pages of the truth you want to know. Los Angeles and Hollywood are full of rumors, gossip and mysteries. This book will tell you a little history, what people are saying, what happened, and THE TRUTH. Now you will know the truth of...Is Tom Cruise Gay?, Is John Travolta gay?, Did Barbara Streisand do porno? Who does now!, What happened to Marilyn Monroe, Sam Cooke and Jayne Mansfield. Did Dennis Hopper contact a UFO?, Which actors and rock stars are big or hung? The story of the tiki god (fertility god) with the three-foot hard on at Trader Vic's. Also included is the Elizabeth Lake creature at the lake located 15 miles west of Lancaster, California. Indians once claimed the lake to be a passageway to the underworld, a passageway designed by the devil himself. Also, does Southern California have earthquake weather? There are 98 mysteries in this book, the story and the truth will be revealed to you. Also the truth of Jimmy Hoffa's death is on page 278.

If you like your scandal mixed with history, or vice versa, you will like this chatty book of scandals and the true story of what makes LA tick. Some times the author uses a tad to much pschyo-speak, but a throughtly enjoyable book for those who want to look behind the red carpet, and into the bedrooms.

I learned how to choose wine: the color of the wine must match the color of the sauce, not the meat! Read the book, you will enjoy it!

Overall this is a good read. The steak and wine chapters are especially helpful, as are the sports chapters. The sex chapters are funny. Perfect for guys, but women would like it too, if only to get an insight into what guys are into. A great gift.

Saw the authors on "Cold Pizza" and ordered a copy. Just got it and the book has a lot of useful stuff. I'm not married, so the cheating on my wife chapter won't help me, but I found the beer, wine and cigar chapters especially interesting. A good bathroom read as it's an easy book to flip through.

Definitely a funny read... and there's some great advice here that stays with you. Perfect for the coffee table -- or the bathroom. Much more practical advice than your average men's mag, but just as (if not more) entertaining.

I especially enjoyed the section on how to cheat on your wife (and get away with it)! My wife loved it too!

I will proudly give this book to my son who's graduating high
school in hopes of imparting some really deep wisdom.

I wonder how many Daniel Klines and Jason Tomaszewskis it takes to change a light bulb.

A must for any guy with aspirations of becoming a slackin' FOOL!

I think $10.78 worth of toilet paper would have been a
better investment!

A fun guide to where things happened, but you'll find some of the sites no longer exist. In serious need of revision, but still will give you hours of good reading.

When I picked this book up, it was the uncorrected pre-press edition. It had a few errors in direction (East was West and North was South) and content, but I still find it rather informative.
If you are a California native or new to the Golden State I strongly recommend it for an idea of what fame, fortune and failures can plague the Left Coast. While some information was interesting and thought provoking, other items were rather banal and uninspired. Maybe this was corrected in the later printing, but it still makes me wonder about the veracity that the facts were checked.
Nevertheless a great book for those interested in the underbelly of California pop culture.

If you want to travel all over California and take in all the bizarre (aka definitely not mainstream) tourist sites along the way, buy this book! It provided me with all sorts of information. Imagine my shock when I found out that the site of the Heaven's Gate last supper was the Marie Calender's I frequent when I am in Carlsbad. Really, this book is a lot of fun. Provides a lot of trivia and gives books like LA Bizzaro and San Francisco Bizzaro a run for the $$$$ and also flip flops all over the state in search for crime scenes and other oddities.
Even if you don't use it as a tour guide and/or never step foot in California, this book will entertain and provide more than a few chuckles.

I've actually been into this sort of thing for years, visiting any local sites associated with the more sensational stories of the San Francisco Bay Area, and there simply isn't a better general guide to cover the many other California stories that are even further away.

I say general because I like to read about many other incidents, even those that are no more than bizarre accidents or forgotten front page stories from the Victorian era. I will determine where those occurred too, and newspapers often publish addresses.

The Southern California people with this book will be green with envy that I have easy access to places they don't, and I feel the same way about their area. I'll just have to wait until I get a chance to visit the Southern parts of this state again.

Among the sites I have gone to here in San Francisco are Jimmy Stewart's Apartment from the 1958 thriller Vertigo, and the apartment house where the Symbionese Liberation Army brainwashed Patty Hearst in the closet in 1974. I had already read Patty's own riveting account of the kidnapping, so that particular site made an even more ominous impression.

The Vertigo site has very relaxed vibes, and the SLA site really unsettling vibes. I even looked into the hallway of the latter and noticed a creepy gun sight like design in the old colored windows. Anyone would notice those while going up the stairs, and that's all the more interesting because the SLA practiced with pellet guns in the bathroom during the three months they were there.

One of the things I like about seeing all these places is that they give a local resident a kind of frame of reference about the neighborhoods. Even most cab drivers won't know the city like those who have this little encyclopedia as they travel around.

I never really paid much attention to some areas before, like the ones associated with rock n roll history in the Haight Ashbury and elsewhere, but now when I hear people talking about many legendary names I have visual references to real places and it's something we can both talk about.

If you'd like to chat about this hobby, send me an e-mail. I'm working on an 1895 San Francisco history book that will also have a generous list of places to visit at the end, and I'll let my fellow time trippers know if the project is ever completed.

This book is more a tourist guide to trivia than a guide to places of scandal, mayhem, and celluloid. How scandalous is the place that inspired the Beach Boys hit "Fun, fun, fun"!?!

Like a lot of other reviewers here, I'm a Stern fan and bought this book on Howard's recommendation. I'm a pop culture junkie and was looking forward to getting the inside scoop on the reality genre, but the majority of the book was rehashed gossip items from the last several years. Also disappointing was the presence of many factual errors and misspellings, which made me wonder if Mike even showed this to an editor/fact checker.

I have not actually read the book yet, but am looking forward to it. A few members have been mentioning about the "Real World" mistake. Maybe he meant Road Rules or Real World/Road Rules Challenge. That's all that I can think of. I agree that this mistake should have been caught! Oh well.

If you have followed reality TV, this is a great book. I am also a big Howard Stern Fan and a Mike Walker fan so I loved this book. It's a quick read, but lots of interesting things and behind the scenes on reality TV both the good and the bad. A nice gift for someone who is a fan as well.

Although I have rarely read Mike Walker's regular gossip column, I love this book, and he seems to have the dirt on everyone. The book is large in size with loosely spaced type, and Mike's fun and witty writing style will keep you interested throughout each chapter.

The only reason I am giving it four stars instead of five is because, as one other reviewer noted, Mike totally blew it on 'The Real World', describing the MTV series as having "Pioneered the concept of competition. Contestants battled each other in an elimination contest and were booted off the show, one by one, until only the winner remained." I think Mike was describing 'Big Brother', not 'The Real World'.

But don't let that mistake keep you from buying this book. If you're a fan of reality TV or if you have any interest in what goes on behind the scenes in getting these shows produced, the good and the bad, the down and dirty, there is no better source of information than Mike Walker.

I am a huge fan of reality television and also a huge fan of Howard Stern. I bought the book directly as a result from hearing Mike plug the book on the Stern show. I thought it was a great book. I read it in 2 sittings and had trouble putting it down. This would be a five star review, BUT it gets a star reduced from the score because early in the book Mike explains that on MTV's The Real World people get voted off and the last person standing wins.........HUH??? Is there a different Real World on MTV that I have never seen? That's just inexcusable for somebody writing a tell-all book on reality television. How did this misinformation get by his editors also? Shame, shame Mike. It's a great read, but I couldn't get this huge mistake out of my head while reading the rest of the book. How can we trust that Mike's other facts are correct when this one is blatantly WRONG. So I give it 4 stars.

I first saw this book at my boyfriend's agents' office and I could not put it down. It's entirely visual and includes some of my favorite actors on the planet doing what they do best - creating characters. I thought the book was so fantastic that I purchased two of them for Christmas presents - one for my boyfriend and one for my boss. My boss is a studio executive and she had a similar response to the book that I did...that it was different than most "how to" type acting books. She loved it and found it as entertaining as I did. I'm certain that I'd be likely to buy more copies in the future. You don't have to make a huge committment to just sit back and enjoy watching your favorite actors create great characters with genuine emotion. I highly recommend this book!

Superlative photos accompanied by text. It's a great, original concept. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy photography, particularly portraiture, or acting.

Lots of faces, almost all familiar to most everybody, putting on an
expression to match the director's request. Great coffee table item.

I gave this book to friends who are in the theatre. They both have told me they enjoyed the photographs and the accompanying text. I am not a theatre buff, but I found this to be a great coffee table book with wonderful black and white images.

This is a must have for artists, animators and actors. Yes, the photography is superb, so as a pure art book, it's great. But I also recommend this book as a teaching tool. I have seen many, many books on facial expression, but this one surpasses them all by miles. Not only because it uses actors instead of ordinary Joes, but Schatz puts them into character by giving them a situation to react to and a personality to react with. Other books on expression, simply state "sad" or "confused" or "angry". Schatz directs the actors by saying "your are a man who has been told he has inoperable cancer", for instance. The results speak for themselves.