Entertainment Books

I liked this book very much. My favorite part was the character bios. The "Killeer Deck" wasnt as cool as I thought it would've been though.

If you are looking for a particular subject ONLY, you might be disappointed. However, if you are looking for general coverage with very good coverage in each area, this is a very good book.

You are introduced to the Yu-Gi-Oh characters and given details about their personalities. You are given good card / deck intros and strategies. You are given a list of cards with their attributes and descriptions.

All of it is easy reading and written well in proper English. Definitely a gotta-get for Yu-Gi-Oh fans.

I saw this book at the store. It looked really detailed so I bought it.

It has bios from the manga & anime. It has reviews of cartoons that were never shown in the U.S.

And there's a ton of cool stuff about the CCG. There's a lot of Top 10 Lists & Killer Decks. About 80 pages of this book deal with the Card Game.

There's also stuff on the Video Games. I'm not a big fan of 3D, but the book does have eight 3D images & 3D glasses inside.

All in all, if you are into the YuGiOh anime, manga, or Card Game. This book is a must have. It's a great resource! I learned a lot about the history of YuGiOh that we might not ever see in the U.S.

This book is my favorite Yu-gi-oh thing that I own. Even if it's unofficial I still love it.
This book has stuff about:
the characters
The comics
The unseen episodes{ the REAL first season}
The upcoming episodes
The card game
And don't forget agobut the 3-d section
This is probely one of the best things you could get information from about Yu-gi-oh {besides the internet.

This is a wonderful biography of a fascinating and engaging personality. Sheridan is a fine poet and an honorable politician (a nearly impossible achievement in the eighteenth-century as it is today), a genuine wit, he was also one of the greatest playwrights in the London theater of his day.

Sheridan was a man of fashion and society, but not a fop. He wrote clever, romantic comedies, liked to live on the edge and yet always held fast to his principles -- supporting the American colonists, for instance, in their struggle for independence -- while refusing to be bought at any price.

He lived in grand style from the first moment that he arrived in London (despite having nothing but his wife's dowry), spending all of the money that he made as quickly as he earned it -- sometimes MORE quickly than he earned it. He was passionate about few women but appreciative of the beauty of many, and he was a devoted and caring father. (His poem "If a Daughter You Have" is a small gem.)

When he came home one night to find his theater burning as a result of a fire (probably set by his enemies in parliament), he calmly sat and sipped some wine, explaining to shocked witnesses: "Surely a man can have a glass of wine by his own fire."

Toward the end of his life, although he was burdened by crippling debts, he refused an offer of a large sum of money in compensation for his support offered by the American colonists. He explained that his support had been a matter of principle.

Read this biography and anything by Sheridan himself.

It's enough to say that a major artist has met with a superb biographer and this happy marriage has produced a very moving and absorbing account of this great man's life. Thank you Mr O' Toole!

Sheridan (1751-1816) is best known for a few plays, superficially comedies of manners and morals, mainly The Rivals and The School for Scandal. O'Toole's work explores beneath the surface of these and other literary works, showing them as the products of Sheridan's personal and political life.

Widely praised in the English and American press, this biography portrays Sheridan as a passionate (and compassionate) politician. He was a major player in a struggle for various complicated and sometimes seemingly contradictory causes and parliamentary power in the era of the American Revolution, King George III's intermittent madness, the French Revolution, and troubles in the British empire.

Sheridan is shown to be a humanitarian, and, less convincingly, an Irish patriot in the guise of an English politician who happened to be Irish by birth at a time when Ireland was at times openly rebellious toward England. The family heritage in Ireland was actually Protestant, but tolerant of Catholicism to the point of having Jacobite tendencies, i.e. favoring the return of the Stuart monarchy that had ended with James II in the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688. Sheridan's father, Thomas, was a man of the theatre, and also a scholar, concerned particularly with propriety in matters of language and spoken discourse. Richard was not his father's favorite and his mother, herself a writer, died while Richard was still a young boy.

O'Toole's biography manages to relate the playwright's works to his family circumstances without indulging in psychological speculation. For example, the memorable character Mrs. Malaprop, in The Rivals, (immortalized by our word "malaprop" or "malapropism") is shown to be in part based on Thomas, who had pedantic tendencies. (Malaprops are best when they come from pretenders to perfection in language. An especially good one appeared a few years ago in The Smithsonian magazine when James J. Kilpatrick, a conservative political commentator and sometimes word policeman, referred to a mistake in diction as a "solipsism" instead of a "solecism".)

The many portrayals of hypocrisy and venality in Sheridan's plays are well explained by reference to the politics and society of the period, but are timeless in their effectiveness. The book is most interesting in describing the realities of theatrical performances, whether the particulars are staging details, audience characteristics, or financial exigencies. But this is a political biography of a character whose political accomplishments and enlightened ideals outshine his well known literary works.

Many of Sheridan's Irish contacts and English partisans in the intrigues within England in the years after 1789 were openly sympathetic to, or even allied with the French revolutionaries. Yet Sheridan was during this time a prominent member of the House of Commons and close to the Prince of Wales, later George IV. Some of his personal and political friends were tried as traitors during the peak of Sheridan's political prominence; he survived primarily because of his political acumen, eloquence, and insight.

To the general reader, not well acquainted with the intricacies of English history, the work will nevertheless be interesting and convincing in portraying Sheridan as a politically adroit and ingenious man, even an Enlightenment figure. Sheridan's speeches and writings were well known to the American revolutionaries, and remained popular even after his death. He eloquently advocated religious toleration, freedom from colonial oppression, even feminism, and opposed slavery so effectively as to influence the young Frederick Douglass.

Sheridan's personal flaws (he was a drunk and an adulterer), theatre life in London, political intrigues, the struggle for religious and political freedom in Ireland, and the impeachment trial of Warren Hastings for mismanagement of affairs in British colonial India, all well explained, make this book accessible and interesting. I offer three points of criticism.

First, and most importantly, characters, terms, or events not known to the general reader or history reader, should be explained briefly. The English reader may know what a "rotten" borough was, and what a "pocket" borough was, in the days before parliamentary reform, but a sentence or two would explain this and give the reader a better understanding of the electoral politics involved.

Second, an attempt at a definitive biography, published by a prestigious house such as Farar, should include illustrations. It is frustrating to read descriptions of presumably extant political cartoons of the day, some involving Sheridan's Drury Lane theatre, or major political figures, and not be able to see reproductions-surely the private collection or library would give permission. (In fact, the New York Review of Books included one cartoon in its review of this book.)

Finally, O'Toole's prose is afflicted with some of the unfortunate mannerisms of academic style. He repeatedly uses the awkward, almost always disruptive "former...latter" construction, and equally often uses the term "context" when referring to real relationships or circumstances-the term should be reserved for relationships between words. These usages may be epidemic in doctoral dissertations or in the "scholarly" journals no one reads, but that does not excuse their appearance in a work like this-the author is the drama critic of the New York Daily News. In the age of word processing, surely an editor at Farar should have caught these irritating errors of style, possibly in preparation of the American edition. Then again, a careful editor might have noticed that at the end of the "Preface to the American Edition" the date is incorrectly listed as May 1988.

If this clever and talented author had made his entertaining book more accessible, he would be open to the charge of "popularizing", anathema in academic and some literary circles. But it is a measure of his success in eliciting the nature of Sheridan that one wishes he had done so. After all, the political and religious difficulties in Ireland persist, and one could as well look beyond the Emerald Isle and argue that we too live in an age of comparably flawed, but ultimately noble political actors and causes, in need of better understanding of their human qualities.

I was familiar with Sheridan from his theatrical comedies, plays that have become standard in the repertoire. I was dimly aware of his service in Parliament. I wasn't aware of his extensive involvement in the great political questions of the day, particularly the Irish questions, nor of his centrality in the great debates of the late 18th century--the American war for independence, the expanding power of the East India Company, and many others.

The book covers all of this, but what elevates this bio from the typical is the author's focus on Sheridan's rhetoric--his use of language. The richness of wordplay, situation, and satire in his plays turns out to be just a special case of a characteristic lifestyle of thought and interaction. It's just splendid to read this sort of thing from an intelligent writer. The book gets you thinking, and there are points at which you may challenge the author's conclusions, but you're not going to find many biographies of this depth, thoroughness, and thoughtfulness. A great read!

I would like to recomend "Travel and Entertainment Best Practices" By Mary Schaeffer. I found the book to be very interesting and have applied the techinques when it comes to travel and entertainment concerning my business.

After getting Controller and CFO's Guide to Accounts Payable, I picked up Travel and Entertainment Best Practices. Again I have gotten what I needed. Using this book as an outline I can safely give sound advise on what and how to handle T&E. My situation is awkward as I have to fill the shoes of a much senior previous employee, I cant tell you valuable it is to have the wisdom of Mary imparted to me.

This book offers excellent tips/advice. Easy to read, you will use this advice over and over again if travel and entertainment are part of your working life.

I'm a financial professional from NY. I find that doing the paperwork after a business trip can sometimes be more trouble for me and and the Payable Department than the trip was worth.
Schaeffer's book will help you streamline the T&E process and provide you the information you need to put effective policies and procedures in place.
The information we used from this book helps our company save money on every trip our associates take.

i rarely write reviews unless i'm ticked off.

i own a used copy of the original hardcover, back in the days before amazon.com, when it was a real accomplishment to find a rare used book. fred allen has been a favorite of mine since i was 12 years old and discovered old time radio. in fact, it's in hommage to f.a. that i have always typed in all lower case, as he did in his letters (see the other great book in the allen trio, "fred allen's letters". "much ado about me" is also wonderful, but unfortunately not quite finished when allen passed away.)

so my criticism is painful. . . i was so excited to see this book reprinted that i actually posted an announcement to the old time radio internet digest, encouraging folks to check it out. i ordered a copy myself, even though i own the original, just to throw a teeny bit of financial support at such a surprising endeavor. it seems quite unlikely to me that enough folks have even heard of fred allen these days to make this reprint a financial success (which would then, hopefully, spur more of this material to surface).

as i paged through the book i've read 100 times already, i could tell that the reprint was made from the original plates. the ink bleeds badly on many pages, and one page (which i can't seem to find now) was even printed slanted. the front cover is acceptable, even if as minimalist as one could make it given that it features a hirshfeld drawing. the back cover looks just awful, a plain white page with a bar code at the bottom and a small paragraph describing the book.

it's just simply a very cheap affair, despite the quality of the writing itself.

one other note: be aware that at least 50% of the book consists of script excerpts. when the book was published in 1953, no one had even conceived of the idea that one day people would be listening to these shows on reel to reel tapes, then lps, then cassettes, then mp3s. so to give the reader a sampling of the flavor of the show with these excerpts made sense.

now, however, anyone with enough interest in f.a. to buy this book most likely has had access to the shows one way or another. having a large collection myself, i was disappointed that i had heard many of the shows excerpted already.

but this is a minor reservation on a truly delightful, honest, witty, and funny account of allen's days in radio.

"Treadmill To Oblivion" is the definitive book of Fred Allen's wit, humor, and charm. It traces his adventures in radio from 1932 to 1949. Within, we get samples of rountines, brilliantly funny jabs (Bewtween he and Jack Benny) and insight into the comic, concentrated mind of Fred Allen; one of America's greatests comedians. Also, there are sevral humorous observations, asides, and quips that reveal Allen's biting ever-throbbing wit. A MUST-READ for any lover of wit, wisdom, and humor. A good companion to this book is the honestly warm "Much Ado About Me", Fred Allen's subsequent book, telling the tale of his life before radio. Regardless, READ THIS BOOK!!!!!

"Treadmill To Oblivion" is the definitive book of Fred Allen's wit, humor, and charm. It traces his adventures in radio from 1932 to 1949. Within, we get samples of rountines, brilliantly funny jabs (Bewtween he and Jack Benny) and insight into the comic, concentrated mind of Fred Allen; one of America's greatests comedians. Also, there are sevral humorous observations, asides, and quips that reveal Allen's biting ever-throbbing wit. A MUST-READ for any lover of wit, wisdom, and humor. A good companion to this book is the honestly warm "Much Ado About Me", Fred Allen's subsequent book, telling the tale of his life before radio. Regardless, READ THIS BOOK!!!!!

Have owned & loaned both.In Treadmill To OblivionFred tells of his greedyagent booking him into themuddiest place in AustraliaHis early bookings & dealings with this agentare an Allen gem. All About Me was mostly hisradio scripts. Finished byhis daughter. Excellent forwriters of comedy. Successto all that follow in hissteps.

This book has had a lasting influence on me, and I've admired Dixie Carter every since I first read it. She really has a gift for writing with warmth, humor, and a heart full of down-to-earth wisdom. As a woman, her book made me feel "normal" again, and for that I'll always be grateful! Dixie has a knack for writing with vibrance and her stories are so interesting you don't want the book to end. I so hope that she will come out with another book.

After I started reading this book I could not put it down. Dixie covers almost every subject, from beauty tips to romance. Her Southern charm adds so much to this book. I highly recommend this to everyone.

always on the lookout for "bargain" books in bookstores, i chanced upon dixie's book being closed out. liking her anyway in "designing women", i knew i would enjoy her book, but i was not prepared for my fascination. by the time i was finished reading the book, i felt i knew her--she was someone i could drop in on for coffee. she echoed my own sentiments of missing the people being polite to each other, and of loving discipline seldom taught to children today and more than once made me nostolgic for the rich childhood she had--the things that are possible for children and which every child deserves. she writes the way she speaks which is a joy. the book is never dull and in truth, you do not want it to end. i hope she determines to write another book. i want the first copy.

I do not think that Dixie Carter has ever been one of *People* magazine's "Fifty Most Beautiful People in the World", and it is a crying shame. Carter has in spades what gets people on that list: all-encompassing beauty. In *Trying to Get to Heaven* she, in a sense, shares that beauty with us. She tells us about the people who have inspired her, instructs us on behavior(such as yoga and decorating), reveals to us some of her most heartfelt memories, and articulates her beliefs about beauty. Beauty, to her, is the guiding principle by which life is well-lived. By showing us how beautiful her life has been, and by doing it in such a lyrical, richly-detailed, entertaining, and, sometimes, humorous way, she sets an excellent example.

I'm sure the book is good because I bought it thinking it was a new novel. But, it's a compilation of three or four previously published paperbacks which I already own and have read, so I spent my money for nothing....the stories are well written and are Star Trek...except there is no explanation that it's previously published novels all rolled up into one..

I've already read most of this book when the stories inside were published as individual novels. I still got it for 3 reasons. One, to get the Gateway stories at the end that I skipped initially and only skimmed through in the store. Two, just to have them all together in one fantastic volume. And 3 I got it for the new introduction by David R. George III. For anyone who hasn't read these books though, this is your chance to get started on the most fantastic continuation of Star Treks most epic series one could have hoped for.

The final episode of DS9 wrapped up many of the important threads in the series. But there were enough things still left hanging that we fans knew there could still be many stories to tell. Marco Palmieri, editor at Pocket Books along with some fantastic writers answered a fan's wildest dreams with these stories, and many more to keep this epic still going today.

First up is Avatar, by S. D. Perry, which had all the action, drama and exposition as a pilot episode, which this basically was for the post finale novel series. In addition to having its own fantastic story, it lays the groundwork for many of the novels to come, and sets up new and familiar characters to fill the vacancies left by several characters when the series ended.

The other stories are more stand alone stories, one being part of the Section 31 series they did and the other 2 being part of the Gateways series they did, both being larger series spanning the entire Trek universe though only the DS9 installments are included here. The Section 31 and Gateway plots weren't my favorites, but both contained material that furthered the plot introduced in Avatar and would continue into future books.

There is much to love about today's Star Trek novels. They are much more connected overall and far more ambitious than the mostly stand alone novels of the past. But among all the great novels I've read these past few years the DS9 post finale stories are my favorite. And these stories are your chance to read them from the begining if you missed your chance before. I hope they follow this with more omnibus editions of the stories that follow. They could do one for the "Mission Gamma" series, another for the DS9 10th anniversary novels, and another for "Worlds of DS9" and possibly "Warpath" unless that would be better suited to be included with the next few stories down the road.

Im glad this book was published because I was not able to read the last 2 of the storys when they were originaly published and I enjoyed them here.

Twist of Faith offers everything:

*what a bargain! 660 pages of truly wonderful story-telling with enough action, variety, mysteries, and fun to give you hours of reading pleasure

*a truly beautiful cover and binding. Not something I usually care about but the artwork on Twist of Faith is just fantastic.

*Avatar, by S. D. Perry, is as rich and detailed a story as you will find in the Star Trek universe. Mind you, this is NOT an easy read - the book is painstaking in its detail, carefully building up characters and story until the book positively takes a life of its own (literally!). Most amazing of all, it brings utterly brand new characters completely alive, from an "old hand" Star Fleet officer to a young Andorian to a brand new take on the Jem'Hidar. And if that weren't enough, it takes backstory from the series to a remarkably vivid and logical extension, with the book filled with both heart-wrenching tragedy and great triumphs.

*an action packed middle book (Abyss) which, while it can't keep up quite the momentum found in the first book, serves as effective action piece for our good Doctor.

*a very well written 3rd and final book (Demons of Air and Darkness) which shows that a very simple and somewhat monotonous premise - catastrophe and rescue - can be greatly enhanced by skillful, amusing, and action-packed writing ability that neatly fuses races from not only Deep Space 9 but also Voyager in a way that makes sense and provides edge of your seat excitement.

*and if that weren't enough, there's a special treat in the Horn and Ivory novella which is a different sort of story (more would spoil the fun) that is immensely enjoyable and remarkably entertaining, especially since it involves a series of characters and events which don't go beyond this single story.

In short, this is a fantastic volume, attractively to view, wonderfully priced, and an absolutely stellar set of stories. They outdid themselves with this one!

Kudos!!!

It's a down-to-earth book for those of us who want our homes to look personal and lived in.

It's a down-to-earth book for those of us who want our homes to look personal and lived in.

If you have ever dreamed of tuning trash into treasure this book will show you just how to do it. A wide variety of creative effects will help you transform many useful and exciting pieces for your home.

Using old, cheap or run down furniture and decorative items as raw materials, the basics of repair and finish stripping are shown. Then the fun begins with refinishing techniques including painting, decoupage, stenciling, mosaic & gilding.

Many variations on the techniques are thoroughly described and illustrated. Over 50 step by step projects include a wide range of items and materials that will provide inspiration for whatever piece you are working on.

The book is fully illustrated with clear close up color photos. A series of templates for stenciling is a nice bonus. This book will be a valuable source of ideas for many years to come.

What struck me most about this book is its down-to-earthness. Who of us doesn't have an old ugly wooden jewellery box lying around, ugly melamine cabinets or an old scratched up desk? As I flipped through the pages, I found inspiration in just about everything and found the projects to be something that I would actually do!

The first section of the book gives insight on how to source junk, how to decide whether or not a piece is salvageable and how to make simple repairs and prepare the surface for finishing. The 2nd section moves onto the various ways to tranform a piece through the use of moldings, mosaics, decoupage, decorative painting, faux finis, stencilling, stamping etc. The third section gives you ideas on sourcing inspiration but I found myself skipping this section altoghether as there are over 50 projects in the final section and I had no difficulty finding inspiration amongst them. The variety of projects is quite diverse, ranging from small projects like revamping your lamps, glassware, baskets, boxes etc to bigger projects like refinishing cabinets and furniture.

I am currently renovating my powder room from the inspiration I got from this book. My walls are painted with a gorgeous faux fini that was inspired from the kitchen table project and they are currently awaiting the 2nd step which is the stencilling. My ugly grey melamine cabinets are sporting a gorgeous wood frame and are waiting to be painted all white with an antiquing technique to be applied on the decorative molded frame. The ugly plastic handles have been thrown out (yes not everthing will you want to salvage), the remaining holes have been plugged and gorgeous pewter handles are wating to be installed. I have never done anything like this before and as I see the project unfold, I know that the end result will be beautiful and elegant. The book has been extremely instrumental in this project and will be for future projects I have in mind..so it goes without saying that his book is a keeper!

Dr. John preformed on "Mondaygras" (the day before Fat Tuesday) in a New Orleans warehouse in 1987. On that night he introduced himself to me and several hundred New Orleans revelers. Those in attendance experienced the hoodoo moon and the life of the night tripper. For all others who missed that magical evening, the book, Under A Hoodoo Moon: The Life of the Night Tripper, Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) will make you feel as if you were standing at my side as I permitted the entire life of Dr. John to dance in my blood for that moment in time. The book merely affirms my experience.

I was in college. My dear friend Ruth managed to score some primo tickets. Having lived in New Orleans I knew it would be a special evening. It really did not matter who played. Around midnight and away from the haze of Bourbon Street, New Orleans naturally hums to a rebellious tune. The venue was hot. Crazed girls began to remove their cloths. Eventhough it was an open bar and the liquor was free, bottles of booze mysteriously appeared and were passed from person-to-person bonding us as one in drunkenness. Beads and doubloons rained from clouds of marijuana when the hedonistic frenzy was briefly interrupted by a very large man strolling toward the stage.

It was Dr. John. He needed no introduction. His tangled hair, glassy eyes, weathered skin, and shaman walking stick told their own story. He had sleazed with the dirtiest whores, drank the cheapest liquor, smoked the strongest weed, ate the finest gumbo, and still took joy in thumbing his nose at every law set before his destination. We were his family for that moment.

It is easy to recognize that Dr. John is a good and proud man with an ethos that shakes a soul. Just listen to his cyanne and cured voice. It does not matter what he says. The tones sound like the moon whispering secret knowledge. Dr. John isn't merely a musician spending brain-cells on a binge. He is a warlock.

Under A Hoodoo Moon may never win the Pulitzer Prize, but it tells a story about a remarkable man whose music will haunt your life.

Tom Bradley
[..]

This book will give you a lot of insight to the wild web woven around and by Mac Rebennack. You'll learn more, and maybe to much, about his life, which will open your eyes to the lyrics he's written over the years and in what mental and physical condition he was in during those times. I've been a fan of Dr. John for as long as I can remember, but this book just amazed me! As much as I though I knew, I was wrong. His love of music got his soul in trouble with drugs and his fans were the ones who benefitted from his pain and suffering. He's grown, learned and bloomed into a clear, clean, insightful man. This book made me cry to think of all he went through to get to where he is today. I am lucky enough to own an autographed first edition. It is one of my most prized posessions. If you love New Orleans, Fonk, Blues, and Swampadelic music you MUST read this book!

Want to be a professional musician? Think twice. Dr. John confirms the musician's world as full of addicts, thieves, prostitutes, and swindlers, where almost no one can be trusted. I give the book five stars because it was interesting enough that I finished it, but it's a bittersweet tale of a man who loves music stumbling in a junkie's nightmare. I appreciate his honesty, his sense of humor, his optimism, and his love for music. As an amateur musician who used to contemplate a musical career, I'm glad I opted for a day job and a house in the suburbs. But the story is fascinating. Now I definitely want to check out some of his music.

For anyone who has heard the music of Mac Rebennack a.k.a. Dr. John, this book is essential reading. His unique experiences and his sense of humor make it fascinating to read from beginning to end.

The good doctor's experiences in the music business make a great tale. From his early attachment to some of the New Orleans music greats, through his own experiences in clubs and recording studios, this makes for a terrific insight into what being a musician is all about.

I would highly recommend this book.

This book has contributions from several of Warhol's factory insiders (Victor Bockris, Gerard Melanga) who were personally involved with the Velvet Underground's groundbreaking shows in NYC (in addition to their status as card-carrying members of Warhol's film-and-silkscreen juggernaut). Their recollections, letters, and photographs from their time with the band paint a vivid picture of a beautifully chaotic scene peopled by colorful, indulgent artists and hipsters in a shimmering New York. The city is a character in its own right; an actor of nearly perceptible intent.

The photos alone are worth the price of admission. They are beautiful and artful records in black and white of the band and the surrounding Factory maelstrom through the most vivid and productive period of their shared existence. Despite the insider access of the photographers, they do little to deflate the Velvet's dark mythology. Rather, they distill perfectly the self-created mythology of the band as they birthed it.

There are great stories here, too, that could only have been told by firsthand participants. They offer rich portraits of the band and supporting cast, with intimate details of the band throughout their existence. From Lou Reed's early influences, to Warhol's insertion of Nico as the band's icy continental seer of doom, to accounts of their wild psycho-sexual art-rock shows, to their uncomfortable role on the fringes of fame, to the deterioration of the relationship between Reed and Cale, this is an essential text for any serious fan of the Velvet Underground.

UP-TIGHT is an invaluable sourcebook for VU fans and those simply curious about the band that inspired their mere 10,000 fans to start 10,000 bands of their own, as the cliche goes. I'm delighted to see that it is back in print.

Bockris wisely lets the participants speak for themselves, for the most part. Since virtually all (save Lou Reed) had retreated from public life (that is, gotten straight jobs) at the time the book was written, they provide a refreshing perspective as compared to what one usually sees in this type of book.

The standard of writing and research here is much higher that your typical 'rock book'. Not only does it give Velvet Underground the serious treatment they deserve, it is also a worthwhile resource for those interested in Andy Warhol.

An intelligent and entertaining approach to one of the most influential (read: they didn't sell a lot of records in their heyday)rock bands ever. Great pix too. The Velvets epitomized a time when artists didn't feel narrowly compelled to practise any ONE discipline, but rather people were less afraid to combine ideas, cross genres and disciplines. The spirit of the time, to me, suggests Possibility. Yes, Warhol et al. could drift into pretention, but that's the price (and it's really not such a costly one) you pay for being daring. You may go too far sometimes, and by today's (stupid?) standards, perhaps some of the VU "happenings" might appear contrived. But I don't think so! Altogether, VU rules. Way ahead of their time, and before it too. And beside it.

Buy this book, but more importantly, buy into the Underground.

Some 20 years after it's first publication, UP-TIGHT remains the definitive history of The Velvet Underground, and is also one of the essential glimpses into the social and creative world of Warhol's Factory.

Very well illustrated, with many black and white photos documenting the era, Bockris compiles and edits an oral history of the time, with valuable input from all of the key players.

Highly recommended for those with any interest in the Velvets, or Warhol, and an essential snapshot of America's 60s cultural landscape.

-David Alston

This is easliy one of the best books I have ever read. It is full to the brim with heart-stopping action. As you read this book, you will feel like you are on K2, watching it all happen. Scenes of death, the fight for survival, and even a few funny, will play through your head. I suggest this book to people ages 11+. I think this book is too in depth for anyone younger. Overall, this is an awesome book, and you should definitely read it.

This story is about a family that likes to climb moutains. The main charecters are Annie and Peter Garret and their father. They are out climing in Utah in the moutains. There are two amatures that are falling down the moutain and crached on the ground laying there motionless. This made the Garret family move quickly and slipe to the side of the moutain. The rope could not hold that much weight so the father made his son, Peter, cut the rope to save him and his sister's life. His sister blamed him for the death of their father's death. This was the best action book that I have ever read. If you like action books this is a book for you to read.

Peter and Annie Garret are climbing a mountain in Utah with their father. Suddenly, two amateurs come falling onto them, and sent them dangling in midair, hanging by a few cams. The two amateurs eventually falling onto the desert ground hundreds of feet below, laying motionless. Then, the father asked Peter to cut the end of the rope, from which he was holding being held. Peter eventually did, to save his sister and himself. This opening is only the beginning of this exciting and suspenseful story. People who like action will definitely enjoy this story which also teaches the reader some aspects about mountain climbing.

Three years later, Annie is climbing K2 of the Himalayas in Pakistan. She is caught in a storm with her boyfriend who turns out to be evil and selfish. Peter, who hasn't climbed since the Utah incident, sets out to save his sister.

The Garrett family climbs mountains chosen by the patriarch Royce who treats his two adult children (Annie and Peter) as if they are still teens. However, In Monument Valley, Utah, two amateurs drop into a freefall with their pack knocking Royce and Peter off the side of the mountain. Only the Garrett?s last belay with Annie still clinging to the side keeps all four men alive. However, the weight of gravity takes it toll and the two amateurs crash to earth. Royce makes Peter cut the rope, which leads to the former dying, but saves the lives of his two children.

Three years later, Peter and Annie remain haunted by the tragedy. Peter, already an accomplished photographer when the accident occurred, turns completely to nature shots to hide from his pain. Annie blames Peter for their father?s death and continues Royce?s dream of climbing the world?s toughest peaks in search of solace. However, this time on K2 something goes wrong and Annie faces certain death if Peter, who has not touched a mountain since Utah, fails to rescue her.

VERTICAL LIMIT is an adaptation of the movie. As with the picture, the story line is incredibly exciting and filled with nonstop action. Readers will feel the pain suffered by the siblings, who never found closure with the death of their beloved father. Mel Odom does a great job of bringing a powerfully scenic movie onto the printed page so that those readers who enjoy a heart-pumping thriller will climb K2 along side the lead cast.

Harriet Klausner