Eric Roberts Books

The lazy man is Penzler. I was caught bookless and had to have something quickly a couple of days ago, so I picked this up on the title alone. I read widely, but my weakness has always been mysteries, preferably of the who-done-it variety with psychological insights. I've read historial and contemporary, procedurals and cozies..lots and lots of English and American writers. So I figured...The 50 Greatest Mysteries! Edited by a Big Name in mystery fiction. I expected well written and carefully chosen mysteries, including lesser known fascinating puzzles. Penzler is well known in mystery literature: owner of the Mysterious Bookshop, compiler, guest lecturer...a Name in the Business. The "Best" of anything is always an argument, so even if the stories were not "the best" they would certainly be contenders.
The stories are arranged chronologically, and Penzler provides a very brief introductory paragraph. He does not suggest why the story is included (and in one instance, refers to a story that is not included as better than his example). He doesn't discuss or distinguish between a true mystery, a suspense story, a procedural or a cozy. Arguments abound as to what is a 'mystery' and Penzler doesn't attempt to add to or resolve the discussions. He adds no insights or points of view--nothing to justify his choices. Some of his dated pieces are charmless, so I have to assume they were included as exemplars of the period, but Mr. Penzler doesn't place the unfamiliar within a context. Instead, he seems to have included the oldest first, plodding through the genre to fill the pages before the next book, which will probably be called Another 50 of the Greatest Mysteries. The book seems complied haphazardly and named to sell.

Perhaps I ask too much. There are some lovely stories,and some that are interesting. He includes a brief suspenseful piece by Edith Wharton. She's a lovely writer, but not an ounce of mystery is involved in the tale. The Red Headed League is an early Sherlock Holmes which is fun but not the best of Doyle. I can't argue with The Purloined Letter (Poe), and am happy to known that writers not known for mysteries actually wrote a few (Jack London, Aldus Huxley, Thomas Hardy[and its a good one], Thurber, AA Milne, Ogden Nash) but they are not the Greatest Mysteries. Fredrick Irvington Anderson's story is dated and tiresome--and Mr. Anderson is not a familiar name. Mr. Penzler doesn't crack stories from 1950 until page 327--two thirds of the way through the book. But it is probably cheaper to republish stories well past their copyright conflicts date.

They ain't The Greatest Mysteries. They are sometimes interesting. Some are truly fine. If you want context, insight or thematic consistency, look elsewhere. These are complied tales, not an editor's choice. On the other hand, if you are caught bookless and need 567 page of choices, you will find some good stories, some seldom published historical oddies to leaf through, some to skip and certainly, along the way, something to like.

This book is not bad on amount of entries but lacks any sort of depth, most definitions and descriptions are short and barely informative. It seems that this author decided not to do any substantial research or make the effort required, has a cut and paste feel.

I was foolish enough to buy this from Amazon and it convinced me never to buy again any title that has the suffix ..for dummies. It is completely worthless, it is not a how to and it contains no purposeful concept for any sort of PR activity. If this edition has the additional CD... its worthless too, contain a complete crock of useless shareware and 30 day trial software.
The book is one long self-penned hagiography about how wonderful the author is and what a genius at PR he is. Well where this book is concerned that's true. It goes on at length discussing a thin veneer of material with little or no clear plan of attack. The book itself is an exemplary example of all that is wrong with PR. It is some exhausted title in a pre-remaindered condition that has been re-furbished in the emperor's new clothes that is the signature of the For Dummies title. Splash on a bit of yellow and black, slap in a few moronic cartoons and before you know, it a load of old cobblers is as bright as sixpence.
However it is called For Dummies for a reason- stumping up 20 pounds for this easily sorts the men from the Dummies. I, regretfully fall into the latter category in this case. But never again Wiley and Hungry Minds, never again.

I was at a disadvantage because there were no reviews of this book available prior to my purchase. Here is my remedy to that. Having my own business I wanted to learn how to utilize my opportunites at public speaking and appeal to the audience, media opportunities, and generally looking good. This is honestly the first "for Dummies" book I have purchased and wanted to take back. This book was written from the perspective of a PR person to other PR people/businesses. It is by no means directed or truly beneficial to the private business owner like myself trying to utilize the media and how to appeal to the public as the foremost authority. Save your money and find another book.

Lustbader's earlier work, The Bourne Legacy, fairly decently emulated Robert Ludlums' blockbuster Bourne character and left hope for further novels. The Bourne Betrayal, though, could be subtitled "The Bourne Fans Betrayal". Whereas Ludlum took literary license to the extreme with excellent results, Lustbader's "... Betrayal" comes across like a juvenile video game. Mr. Lustbader conveniently overlooks the fact that Ludlum's Jason Bourne recovered his true identity in the very first book of his trilogy and only reverted to the "Bourne Identity" where it was germane to the story in the two successor novels. The "Betrayal" book's ending leaves one with the impression that yet another "Bourne" sequel is to come. If this is so, please, Mr. Lustbader, please re-read the "trilogy" and even your first Bourne effort, the "legacy" a couple of times before starting.

if i could give this zero stars, i would. the photos are bland and emotionless. i suggest taking a look for yourself before spending $40+ bucks for this item. definately not recommended.

If you would like to hire Eric than this CD is for you. If you would like to learn to sell from Eric than just contact him directly. I suggest not for anyone to purchase this CD. It is primarily a 30 minute product pitch.

I really wanted to like this book because I have always been fascinated by Rube Goldberg type contraptions. But sadly, this book falls far short in many ways. First, the title is misleading. There are basically 10 contraptions with 5 variations of each. For example, here are some of the titles: "Gravity Domino Righter", "Son of Domino Righter", "Return of the Domino Righter", you get the idea. Also, they should have stopped at Wild and Wacky, because there is nothing useful about any of these contraptions, unless you can imagine actually using a hammer to smash into your light switch to turn it off. The diagrams themselves are pretty interesting, however many times parts are shown just hanging in mid-air, and you have to question whether the authors ever built any of their own contraptions. After studying some of the designs, I think it's more like, "I haven't tried this, but it should work." It's easy to be enticed by the title of this book, but please save your money on this one, I wish I had.

the first editon was fantastic.
the second was a experiment to merge electronic resource with printed edition...it actually failed...the book is terrible...for example you have to have a PC to see some images wich are not included in the book, and I don't really like to depend on a computer to read a book.