Terry Jones Books

This book is full of funny illustrations, brief bios, and weird little gags that make the movie all the more entertaining. Even on it's own, the book is funny and... educational to an extremely limited sense of the word. Froud is an excellent artist, and illustrates everything cleverly and sharply.

I love all of Brian Froud's drawings. I think I have every single one of his books. If you can't find "The Goblins of Labyrinth," try looking for "The Goblin Companion." Enjoy!

Lawson managed to have a life and love affaire with usual and unusual cars. He attaches a distinct personality to the many cars he owned and writes about them and the adventures each car has provided for him and his friends (male and female!) Reading it makes you remember your own past! It will enthrall all of us who remember their very first car. Lawson had a great adventure and shares it with us. You will enjoy reading it - go for it!

This great book reads very smoothly. You will find much information about cars, extraordinary people that Lawson Jones has met and dealt with and a story of life's development. And perhaps best of all finding the woman of his life. Enjoy!!!

Here it is MP fans, the screenplay from The Life Of Brian. Being out of print since 1979, I'm glad that Methuen Publishing has stepped up to get this screenplay back in circulation by putting it out in 2001. Illustrated with 19 b&w photos from the film, all your favorite lines from the movie are here to enjoy all over again. A solid effort by Methuen that they followed up a year later with the screenplay to Monty Python And The Holy Grail. And there was much rejoicing. Yea!!!

The format is a mass-market paperback, but this isn't a novelization but rather the screenplay as the movie was made. You'll notice that last has a subtle distinction. Oftentimes screenplays differ notably from the movies as you see them--scenes are cut because they didn't work, cost too much to do, or just because of the limits of time. The screenplays of Brazil and Monty Python and the Holy Grail are full of wonderful little tidbits that didn't make it to the screen. Unfortunately, for Life of Brian, there's only the parts that did get made, which are funny indeed, but you've already seen them.

Well, how about that title?
Anyway if you're into Raf and what he does and stands for then you're in for a treat. If not, you're missing out. This is a great book for a fans and those new to Raf's world alike.
Enjoy.

"Redux" extends Raf Simons' idea that fashion is more than clothes and celebrities. The book reveals Simons' social background, social isolation, social intimacy with his designers/models, and a blurry vision of the future.

Most importantly, the book doesn't reveal too much information on Mr Simons and is presented in such a way which seems unfinished but actually avoids pretensiousness.

The mystery is reduced but not revealed. Recommended

I was so glad that there was more Douglas Adams to read, thank god for this book. But now that I have found a book that you will love to read as it is cut from the same laugh riot ilk as any great DA.

It is not science fiction by any means, but if you like Douglas Adams, you are gonna love Pete McCarthy's book "McCarthy's Bar A Journey of Discovery in Ireland".

This is a little known book and I even had to post the photo of this book on Amazon and afterwards came across to post a review of this book for any other Douglas Adams fans as they will be glad that I have shared.

Kind Regards,
Randall

McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery In Ireland

Likely never intended for publication, but published anyway (as every famous writer's memoirs and journals are), this is a collection of ideas that Douglas had. I was incredibly disappointed, as it was toted to me as his fragmentary final book. BOO!

Spend your money more wisely, buy Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency series by Douglas or his books about endangered animals. You will get way more out of them. Sorry, Douglas, rest in peace.

For even a part time Adams fan, this book is golden. Assembled after his death, this book compiles many years or writings and musings, and throws them in with some unfinished works Adams left when he left this galaxy of ours. The book does take some getting used to, as many of the parts are unpolished, and largely in the state the left his mind from, which can be unorganized. Once you get past this, you really can begin to enjoy this. It reveals a deep and complex thought process, and also gives new depth to your views on Adams. I for one was amazed he could write a rather lengthy excerpt about his feelings on his own nose, to a point where I enjoyed reading it. After learning so much of his thought process, the criminal part of this work is that the man himself is gone, and now that you have insight into his life, he has departed.

If you are an Adams fan, this is a must have, no doubt about it.

A close friend of Douglas Adams once stated that, when one is reading a book by the author, one feels as if what was written was penned especially for him or her. Douglas Adams' mischievous and insightful humor has caused millions of guffaws, billions of knee-slaps, trillions of snorts, and quadrillions of smiles. Any real fan of Mr. Adams' works will find it hard to keep a dry eye throughout this beautifully arranged ode to the memory of the great author.

A collection of memorial speeches, past writings, short stories, interviews, and one incomplete fiction novel await the listener of this collection. At approximately 8 hours, this collection, narrated by Simon Jones, Christopher Cerf, Richard Dawkins, and Stephen Fry, will make you laugh, cry, think, and remember.

The eulogies will unleash your sadness. The short stories will, however briefly, trigger a newfound appreciation for certain simple things. The interviews will inspire your pursuit of clear thinking. The presentations will take your mind on a, hopefully permanent, tour of the wonders of original thinking. The incomplete novel (whether a new "Hitchhiker" or "Dirk Gentley" book, none can tell) will wake up that seldom-used "intelligent-humor" area of the brain. The overall experience will, however temporarily, change your thinking about life in general.

The only criticism I would levy against this production is its relative brevity. The addition of "Young Zaphod Plays it Safe", although an entertaining short story, feels like a cheap way to extend the book somehow. "Young Zaphod" was included in previous collections of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and was thus an unusual addition to this book. However, this is a minor complaint, and is of insufficient import to justify not buying this very moving collection.

REGARDING THE UNABRIDGED AUDIO EDITION: Simon Jones' narration is appropriate on all counts. His erudite enunciation and perfect emphasis would surely earn the approval of this collection's muse--if only he were alive to hear it. Douglas Adams' humor is channeled through the talents of this remarkable voice actor: his skills make even more memorable the sad experience of remembering this genius author, comic, technophile, and luminary.

Fans of DNA: listen to on a good day, or just when you're enjoying a fantastic cup of tea.
DNA newbies who love humor, silliness, and wit: pick up the "Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" first; otherwise, you'll miss many references.
DNA newbies who hate humor, silliness, and wit: please leave your genes in the wastebasket by the door on your way out of this life.

An interesting little volume filled with Adams' musings about a wide-ranging array of topics. Some of the essays and articles here are quite good, and others are, well, not quite so good. But they are all written with Adams' trademark zany wit, and you certainly won't be bored.

The good:
As usual, his observations about the foibles of life, whether it's his mortification about having to wear short pants to school because they didn't make long trousers his size, or the story about the stranger stealing his cookies, are hilarious. And his passionate enthusiasm for his personal values, whether it's technology or the Beatles, shines through in every line and is therefore quite contagious. He has a way of turning a phrase to bring an abstract point down to earth, especially when it comes to his criticism of theism. And some of his analogies between evolution and computer science are quite illuminating, particularly his observation that computer code is analogous to the genetic code in showing how evolution operates by performing simple operations millions of times over.

The bad:
As an amateur biologist, however, Adams does tend to get carried away with the computer analogies--no, Douglas, your baby is not "rebooting." Combine this tendency with his otherwise virtuous enthusiasm, and, like many computer scientists, he carries it to the point of assuming that we are on the verge of creating "artificial intelligence," i.e., that in the near future there will be conscious computers. This failure to distinguish between the biological and the man-made plays right into the theists' hands--after all, that's the basic fallacy behind the argument from design (the Celestial Watchmaker and all that), Adams has just kind of done it in reverse. And his playing at being a naturalist is at times almost embarrassing--like when he wants to ride a manta ray, which would probably be pretty cool, and then feels all stupid when told he can't, or when he hikes to Mount Kilimanjaro in a ridiculous rhino suit (although he does recognize the pretension of telling developing nations that they preserve the resources that Western nations "exploited" during their own development).

As for "The Salmon of Doubt" itself, I haven't read either of the previous Dirk Gently novels yet, but I thought this one was shaping up to be, with more polishing, an interesting book. Of course, in its rough form, and with no ending, it is a bit unsatisfying. Overall, however, this collection is well worth reading, but unless you're an Adams collector you can probably stick with the mass market version (or visit your local library).

This giant photo-riffic book is the Python equivalent of the now-standard Beatles Anthology. No fan of Cleese, Palin, Jones, Idle, Chapman and Gilliam should be without it.

After purchasing the complete set of DVD's and laughing so hard I was sick, I just had to find out out they did it. This book answered my question. I enjoyed it, but it was a bit long and somewhat redundant.

For 30 years or so, I've been a major Monty Python fan, and bought this CD audiobook after thoroughly enjoying the hardback. What a disappointment! If I could give it zero stars, I would - and I've never wanted to do that before in a review.

Having read the book, I knew this wasn't a performance CD - I just wanted to hear the stories from the book as told by the Pythons themselves, in their own voices. Unfortunately that was exactly the problem: As has already been pointed out by others here, the audio quality is wretched.

I had to listen hard in most places to be able to make out the words, and that's no way to enjoy listening to a book. I tried it with speakers and with headphones, volume up and volume down, and nothing helped.

Here's my theory: I don't believe this audiobook was initially intended to be. I think that, after the hardback was published, someone thought it might work to release the interviews that went into the making of the hardback. All well and good, except that those interviews were recorded only for content, not for audio quality, and it shows.

So I don't think anyone did a sloppy job of putting together an audiobook. Instead, I think someone tried to push a square peg of recorded interviews through the round hole of retail. Even the art on the CD box seems to be an afterthought.

Unless you're prepared to listen to two CDs of muffled, echoing, low-volume, distant monologues, don't buy the audiobook of "Pythons" - instead, indulge yourself in the hardback. Not only will you "hear" the voices of the Pythons better in your own head, but you'll also get a lot of wonderful photos.

THE PYTHONS is a must for fans of the group but for the more casual reader it probably won't serve a purpose. It is an oral history of the group with contributions by the living members and statements culled from the late Graham Chapman's auto-biography. (A very funny book, but one that needs to be taken with a 16 ton grain of salt)If you are looking for specifics of how any of this marvelous group put together their sketches, look elsewhere; this is not a breakdown of how Monty Python's Flying Circus came to be, rather it is a bunch of reminiscences of early life, working together( and who worked with whom) and some still not quite healed wounds. Chapman comes off poorly, his drinking a constantly mentioned problem, Gilliam's story is so separate from the rest that he really doesn't seem to be a member of the group until The Holy Grail, although his animations were a key to the show's success, and Cleese is often seen here as standoffish, a bit out of the mix with the others. Memories often don't jibe for each member, an example being who chose "The Liberty March" as the theme, Palin lays claim to it as does Gilliam (with Idle agreeing with Gilliam.)But it is interesting to see how the group's personalities come forward as time goes on, and it does give some insight into the creative processes behind the scenes even though it does fall short of offering the aforementioned specifics. there are a number of great stories here and well worth the time (and strength!) to read this book. I did enjoy this slightly askew look at one of comedy's most influential and funniest groups ever; I just have difficulty recommending it to anyone but the converted.

This is probably the most accurate history of the Monty Python television program and films.

It reveals the impressing background of the players and their problems in working together which resulted in their dispersing and ill will with each other.

Interesting subject matter, well written, really fascinating look at history - where the Romans aren't the only folks in the past who had, well, anything!

I fell in love with Jones' "Who Murdered Chaucer" and the result was a deepened interest in the period and a return of excitement for the Richard and Henry series in Shakespeare. My return to the joys of Middle English was also prompted. Like that volume, "The Barbarians" is like a pile of leaves found in a dark wood. His picking and mussing those leaves exposes much that I found enlightning. Makes sense that the book of history being written by victors has pushed the Celts and the Gauls and the Germanics into oblivion. Mr. Jones messes about in that pile of leaves and exposes much for our contemplation and wonder. Like his Chaucer Book, I have not examined or tested all of his revelations or pronouncements, but as a book to spark an enduring interest and to seed further exploration I recommend and sing its praises. The Poet's History indeed!

This book is very interesting, readable, and sheds light on the barbarian's view of the Roman world, and their fight against it. It's amazing how the Romans and the people they conquered both benefitted each other.

Good purchase!

It's interesting to read a book about Roman history written from the viewpoint of the other side, ie the barbarians which Rome, mostly, defeated. The next time I read any Roman history it will stop me from making the automatic assumption that the Romans were the civilised ones and their opponents just savages.
However, Jones goes too far in his condemnation of the Romans. It surely cannot be true, as he believes, that Roman hegemony over five centuries was purely based on conquest. I suspect that most barbarians welcomed the Pax Romanus as an alternative to constant rivalry between opposing chieftains. This better explains the success of the empire.
Does Jones really believe that the people who built Rome were not superior to at least the vast majority of the tribes they defeated, tribes which never even invented written language? I don't think he really does; it just feels clever to take that viewpoint.
As an antidote to this nonsense, go to Rome and then stand outside the Pantheon. Then say to a nearby tourist: "Of course, the barbarians whom the Romans defeated were more civilised than the people who made this." Watch the tourist nervously back away.

Terry Jones may be one of the sharpest wits in the historians' arena, and "Barbarians" proves that Jones deserves credit as a serious historian.

That doesn't mean that "Barbarians" should be accepted as gospel. Its value rests in its willingness to examine the role of the "barbarians" in Western civilization . . . and that role is far greater than quaffing mead after a good rape-and-pillage.

Jones reminds us that "barbarians" were everyone who was not Roman - so it covered quite a bit of ground. Accordingly, the Roman concept of a Barbarian was not Conan. Jones goes to great lengths to prove that "barbarians" made several significant contributions to history, but that's not surprising considering the fact that the Greeks qualified as "barbarians" even though they were the leading scholars of the age.

Like most historians zealously pursuing a thesis, Jones clearly overplays his hand in several areas while ignoring Rome's obvious achievements. Jones argues that Rome stood as a bulwark against scientific progress and didn't achieve much of note in the fields of art, literature, or the sciences. But Jones never really gives the Romans their due - the Roman aqueducts and the Coliseum are ignored, and Jones dismisses Rome's magnificent roads because there's evidence that roads were also built in Britain. In other words, Jones ain't playing fair.

But that's fine - the Romans surely diminished the achievements of their neighbors on many levels when writing their own history. And this slant is pretty obvious, so it's easy to read Jones, enjoy him, and still learn something even if you don't take all his conclusions as gospel. This is one of the most entertaining histories of Rome you will read, and that by itself makes it worth a look.

Good fun read. Short, Probably a collectible someday, maybe. We'll keep our copy safely preserved, tucked away.

Rather a disappointment.Not especially creative. It takes too many obvious shots and does not tickle your risibilities.

Not quite juvenile enough to be really funny, nor was it sophisticated enough to rise above the obvious. I expected more for Hendra.

My Wall Street Journal Satire is never out of fashion in a democracy- in fact the more a democracy is threatened by lopsided-ness to any one view, the more reason to embrace this defensive weapon. 'My WSJ' does this pretty well.

This thing is hilarious but too short. I wish it was as big as the real WSJ so I could slip it into a stack of papers at the office and watch what happens.

Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics is the Bible of ortho surgeons.But there are a few errors which are repeated in the editions.As an example,in the figures for neurorhaphy the direction of vasanervosa is incorrect. They face each other as if two separate nerves are sutured with their distal ends together!

If the editor is interested,I would be happy to help in correcting the numerous similar errors to make a more perfect Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics.

When there was not internet and other media at hand, this was a classical textbook, but now there are more readeable textbooks in orthopaedics, and we can find them in amazon.This is a text for orthopaedics surgeons but is very large to be up-dated as soon as it has to be, and its price makes it a very expensive book for latin american fellows. Could be cheaper...and shorter.

Is a good book, but it is 1-very large and editions are very long one to the other. 2- very expensive to be changed as often as desirable. 3- Canale must make a "Campbell's year book" as an apendix. Any way is a book every one in orthopaedics need at least for the beginning.

Its is a good text for the trainee resident, but may be better and shorther, it's very wide field makes it hard to get up-date as often as possible(every 5 or less years).

The Campbell's was a good book when it was just 2 volumes, but with 4 volumens it has became a very large and hard to up-date book, it was better when editor was Crenshaw, but with Canale it has became a "heavy" book. I personally don't like it for my residents fellows, they buy the Mercer and the Apley's, and for surgical exposures the Hoppenfeld's. It must become a 2 volumes book, getting the 6th ed. as a sample, and maybe Canale will make a "campbell's yearbook".

As an undergraduate my Chaucer lecturer began his lectures on 'The Knight's Tale' with a ringing (and unconvincing) denunciation of Terry Jones' thesis. If his intention was to discourage us from believing Jones, he failed. Several of us raced to the library to get our hands on Jones' book and I remember reading it eagerly and finding it entirely convincing.

Years later, with a great deal more experience in litrary analysis and a far greater knowledge of Chaucer under my belt, I re-read Jones and was surprised to find his thesis rathe more threadbare. It is still a provocative and entertaining book, and one which shook up the usually somnolent field of Chaucer studies, but his central thesis simply doesn't stand up to detailed scrutiny. His work has some serious and ultimately fatal flaws.

Firstly, Jones argues we should not just look at where the Knight fought, but where he didn't fight. Why no mention of him fighting in France like a good English knight? He must, argues Jones, be a mercenary. But it's hard to see how Chaucer could be indicating this with a list of *Crusading* campaigns. The heartlands of mercenary activity in the 14th Century were in the endless wars in Italy, so why doesn't Chaucer have his mercenary knight fighting there? Jones himself constantly refers to examples of mercenaries in Italy to illustrate many of his points, but never explains why this supposedly archetypal mercenary didn't campaign there.

Secondly, Jones goes to great lengths to argue that the crusades the Knight took part in were not noble, chivalric and virtuous ventures, but actually grubby, savage and often futile affairs. This may be true from a modern person's perspective, but what Jones (who has an admitted anti-Church bias) thinks about these campaigns is irrelevant - it's how they were seen in Chaucer's time that is important. And, unfortunately for Jones' thesis, in Chaucer's time they simply *were* seen as noble, chivalric and virtuous ventures.

Thirdly, Jones devotes a great deal of attention to the Knight's appearance, saying this is an obvious clue to his mercenary status. "One might expect a glorious figure in shining armour, with banners flying, a dragon on his shield and a crested helm glinting in the sun.' he argues. Instead, we have a figure in a fustian gypon stained with rust. Again, this argument is weak. A chivalric paragon may have worn armour and carried banners on campaign, but the Knight was on a pilgrimage. He goes on to argue that the Knight's fustian 'gypon' is a sign that the Knight is poor and that it is stained by his mail 'habergeon' because, unlike a real knight, he doesn't wear a coat of plates or breastplate and fauld over his mail and under his gypon or surcoat. He goes on to present evidence that Italian mercenaries went into battle more lightly armed in this manner, but that some form of plate over the mail shirt was ubiquitous for knights in this period. But Jones is simply wrong on that last point, however, and the Alliterative Morte Arthur depicts an arming scene where no less a chivalric paragon than King Arthur himself wears a gypon directly over his mail.

Fourthly, Jones completely ignores the Squire, who is the Knight's son and whose description follows that of the Knight in the 'General Prologue'. In stark contrast to his father, the Squire is presented as fashionably and brightly dressed in the latest style, with great emphasis on his up to-date hairstyle and courtly manners. Unlike his father, the younger man has fought not for the sake of Christendom, but 'in hope to stonden in his lady grace.' (GP l. 88). His campaign was 'in Flaundres, in Artoys and Pycardie' (GP l. 86) - most probably a reference to the 'Pseudo-crusade' of Bishop Henry Despencer in 1383. Unlike his father's crusading campaigns, the Squire took part in one that was widely condemned at the time and regarded as a debasement of the crusading ideal. Jones argues that Chaucer tends to be wry and satirical in his characterisation, but forgets that three of his characters - the Knight, the Parson and the Ploughman - seem to be paragons representing the Three Estates, while it is the *other* characters who stand in satirical relation to them.

Jones' book is provocative and highly readable, but in many places it seems he is straining to find something - anything - to support his ideas while skating over alternative interpretations. For this reason (and not academic snobbery) his thesis has been largely rejected, though his book has been welcomed. This book is recommended, but it should be read with due caution.

This is an epic diagnosis of a character in Chaucer's Canterberry Tales. Not for the casual reader, this in depth study of the character and his times is done in a professional (non comedic)manner.

I have been teaching Chaucer for over ten years and believe Jones' book on Chaucer's knight to be an excellent example of literary criticism that debunks the standard view of Chaucer's knight. I am surprised that I have such difficulty finding the book. One would think that it would be available for every student studying Chaucer. As the first character in the prologue, the understanding of the knight sets the tone for the entire work. Jones' research enticed me to do some research on my own. His book made me look at the other characters with a jaundiced eye, and I found the entire work of The Canterbury Tales to be a medieval version of "Saturday Night Live." I am now in love with Chaucer because of Jones. The book is worth the read for any student studying Chaucer. Jones makes the medieval world come alive with solid facts to support his perspective.

Terry Jones reveals Chaucer's Knight to be a Thug-for-Hire. He cogently explains the historical background, the concept of "chivalrie" in the 14th century, and in his own words, explains a 600 year old joke. The book is written with both style and wit. It is on solid ground for the most part, but does omit some data about the Knight's contemporaries, some of which behaved just as disgracefully but were members of the leading nobility rather than ignoble mercenaries.

A summary:

English teachers universally take the description "Parfit Gentle Knight" at face value. Chaucer's contemporaries would have had quite a different view.

A good analagy: what would someone in 2600 make of the following description of a "Good 20th Century Soldier".

*Being "Highly decorated", with both the Silver Star and Order of Lenin.

*Having more kills than any other sniper in Sarajevo or Beirut.

*With being there when Kuwait City was won, and having brought back much loot to Baghdad than anyone else.

*Wearing an unidentifiable uniform with no rank or army insignia, and carrying a Chinese-made AK-47 loaded with dum-dum bullets and no serial number.

*Being an expert Boxer, who's killed every opponent who faced him in the ring.

*And he's served in more places than any other soldier, in Colombia, Chechnya, the Golden Triangle and the Ivory Coast.

A must-read for anyone studying Chaucer.