William King Books

I got my product I bought on time and it was what I wanted. Thank you!

This book was for my daughters class at PJC. She loves it and it seems to help her a lot.

A Creative Approach to Music Fundamentals (with CD-ROM)
WAT EALS DO U WANN

I have had to use this textbook to teach both a Theory I course and a music fundamentals course for non-music majors. The explanations in this book are confusing, don't include visual examples, and are too in-depth. For classes that have substantial music experience, the exercises could be helpful in reinforcing concepts they already know. However, for someone with little or no experience this book leaves students feeling quite lost. There is nothing creative about this text, except for possibly the visual use of the keyboard to reinforce a few skills. You would think something creative would use more modern musical examples, a tactile method of applying skills, and include more helpful visual examples. Also- unless a student is planning on becoming a musician, then they will never have a need for the information they learn in this book.

Criticism of this text as not good for people with little background is somewhat surprising. It begins rhythm with the idea that music is organized around an underlying pulse, then introduces basic note values and meters. It begins pitch at the level of "this is a staff." How much more basic can you get? I am an experienced music theory professor, and I find this an excellent systematic approach to music fundamentals. If you can learn, you can learn very well from this book; if you can teach, you can teach very well from it.

My only criticism regards the tear-out exercises. This 9th ed. has been improved so that the tear-outs won't take the rest of the text with them--that was a cheapskate, profit-centered approach to book design. Now they are all at the end of the chapter, albeit lumped together so they still don't come out individually. After students and I have all purchased a copy of the text, I still photocopy and distribute the exercises (now termed "Practice Materials") according to my lesson plans and overall course schedule.

The material itself is still presented as clearly and systematically as ever. As with any course content, mastery of material for many students still requires best teaching practices.

This is really a nice book for someone who has been through the strategic planning process a number of times and wants an outline or guideline to facilitate the process themselves. It's not a stand alone aid to someone or an executive staff who have never been through such a process. They should definitely consider outside help.
The book is clear cut, easy to read and understand, and not written for the academic but for the hands-on, roll-up your sleeves folks who have to make the process work.

In Applied Strategic Planning, the authors give a comprehensive step-by-step guide to conducting applied strategic planning. They clearly demonstrate organisations' need for strategic planning. The book is different from other strategic planning models in some significant ways. The major differences are in the values scan, organisational culture, strategic business modelling and integrating business and functional plans. The authors emphasise the importance of application considerations and environmental monitoring as on-going processes throughout the planning period. The authors produced a high quality book that is an important reference source whenever I need to undertake strategic planning.

The book provides the reader with an overall understanding of the process of applied strategic planning and the required steps and technology for using the model in a strategic planning process. The strategic planning model covers application and implementation from the inception of the plan to the post-implementation phase, making it very practical.

The model involves nine sequential steps as well as two continuous functions, namely environmental monitoring and application considerations, that are involved at each of the sequential phases. The sequential steps are planning to plan, followed by values scan, then mission formulation followed by strategic business modelling. Performance audit and gap analysis follow, these two being different aspects of a single phase. The last three phases are integrating action plans, contingency planning and implementation.

I read the book because I would like to increase my proficiency in and knowledge of practical strategic planning and to sharpen my consultancy skills. The book is very practical and easy to follow. As a consultant, I should be able to use the methodology in the course to manage the planning process.

Applied strategic planning provides an appealing model for transforming organisations. The model is future focused and leadership driven. It involves all people in an organisation. It produces a plan that is detailed, comprehensive, understood and accepted, and has the potential to generate energising force to drive the transformation of an organisation.
After going through the book, I feel confident that I could act as a consultant for any organisation.

So, it wasn't exactly an "optional" purchase. It's a little dry, like a text book usually is. But information is overall good.

While browsing through the strategy books, I saw it by chance. I went through the table of contents, hoping it might turn out to be the right one for me as a startup strategy manager. It indeed turned out to be an excellent book on strategic planning in respects of coverage, sequencing of chapters and examples given. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to make progress in strategic planning in a relatively short time.

This is a very good book. In addition to this, I recommend "Strategic Organizational Change" by Michael Beitler.

This novel is set in the time of William the Conqueror. In the beginning he struggles just to stay alive, betrayal and death lurk in every corner and he never knows who to trust. However, he manages to stay alive and because of this his determination to rule over a peaceful duchy and later England drives him. Some of his decisions shock even his most faithful servant and friend, Raoul de Harcourt. Raoul known as "The Watcher" because he sleeps outside William's door at night to protect him, really does save his life more than once.

More than once I found myself admiring William, for he was a complex ruler and not always ruthless. However, in the end, I still felt for Harold who briefly became King Harold I of England because no matter what novel I have read about the "Oath" made to William by Harold, it always seemed forced.

Once you get past the flowery chivalry-type language you find a worthwhile page turning novel! This book was much better than The Golden Warrior by Hope Muntz...and was more insightful of William's personality during his eventful life and leadership. It is out-of-print but well worth the time to locate and read!

This review refers to the Hardcover edition.

Georgette Heyer is famous for her regency romances but she wrote wonderful historical fiction too and The Conqueror was probably the best of the bunch. It's a thrilling tale of Duke William's climb from an ignoble birth to the king of England. You get paegentry, romance, violence, death and fine writing. I read this book when I was in high school and it remains a favorite of mine.

It often occurs to me that had Heyer been male these rich historic works would have been more appreciated.
In this piece we trace William from the room of his birth through one of the most significant and enduring "map-changings" of the last millenium. We see reasons for his behaviour, insight into his relationship with Mathilde, and exquisite detail into the times they lived in.
This book is in some ways like My Lord John and An Infamous Army, in that it is so meticulously researched and yet enlivened by personalities, thus saving it from being a boring historic work. Bravo again and again Mme. Rougier! I wish I could have known you and got inside your head.

This novel is set in the time of William the Conqueror. In the beginning he struggles just to stay alive, betrayal and death lurk in every corner and he never knows who to trust. However, he manages to stay alive and because of this his determination to rule over a peaceful duchy and later England drives him. Some of his decisions shock even his most faithful servant and friend, Raoul de Harcourt. Raoul known as "The Watcher" because he sleeps outside William's door at night to protect him, really does save his life more than once.

More than once I found myself admiring William for he was a complex ruler and not always ruthless. However, in the end, I still felt for Harold who briefly became King Harold I of England because no matter what novel I have read about the "Oath" made to William by Harold, it always seemed forced.

Once you get past the flowery chivalry-type language you find a worthwhile page turning novel! This book was much better than The Golden Warrior by Hope Muntz (which was forgetable!) and was more insightful of William's personality during his eventful life and leadership. It is out-of-print but well worth the time to locate and read!

This review refers to the Harcover edition.

This is an entertaining, colorful historical novel based on the life of William the Conqueror, as seen from the vantage point of one of his knights. Lively, with plenty of detail, much of it accurate. There are inaccuracies, of course. (William's wife, Matilda, did not create the Bayeux Tapestry.) But all in all, a very good read that gives a good sense of 11th century Normandy and England.

Gotrek and Felix are at it again! This time, they fight the Chaos Dragon Skjalandir, and learn of a great incursion of Chaos--due to be fought out in Beastslayer.

The main theme is Gotrek's quest for a heroic death, but he is sidetracked by a friend's death (read to find out who's) and decides to kill the Dragon.

The theme of Order plays out greatly in this installment, the set-in-stone traditions of the Dwarfs against the Chaoticness of the dragon and Orcs.

Read this book, you won't be disappointed.

After racing through the first books in the series, it just gets better. Immensely enjoyabe read if you are into fantasy, AD&D or sword and sorcery. Fairly light and fast moving, good humour and interesting characters (when axe is not hewing into skaven flesh). Many orcs died, and Grotek did not think it too many.
I like this series because William Kings writing style delivers fast and furious action while finding time to create interest in the fate of our doom seeking heroes. My idea of dwarves being stubborn, intractable, built like mountains and almost single minded in purpose fits in nicely with one of the main characters, Grotek.
If you enjoy Shillatoe, Dave Duncan, Weiss/Hickman, Gemmell and so forth, but wanted a bit more action (ok, and a little less depth of character) then have some fun with this series.

While not as intense as its predecessor in the series, this fourth entry in the Felix and Gotrek saga (after Trollslayer, Skavenslayer and Daemonslayer) is every bit as fun.

This book follows the fearless pair and their comrades back from the horrors of the Chaos Wastes and on to a hidden mountain citadel of the dwarves. As usual, along the way there's plenty of axe hewing action and bloodspattered goodness.

The dragon of the title of course shows up, as well as a nice little horde of orcs you know you can rely on to show our heroes some special hospitality.

Not an absolutely essential entry in this series, but a very welcome addition for people like me who just can't get enough of this pair.

For people just beginning this series, I'd probably recommend Daemonslayer first.

Slayer Gotrek Gurnisson is a dwarf on a death quest. He roams the land searching for the mightiest of evils to fight and slay until he is finally rewarded with a glorious death that will long be remembered and talked about for generations to come. Felix Jaegor is sworn to accompany the Slayer, however long it takes, even though it could end in his own death. Should he survive, it will be Felix's job to record and report the heroic dwarf's many battles, as well as how Gotrek fell in combat.

This time they are after the mighty dragon Skjalandir, a ferocious beast that has awaken after a couple centuries of sleep. But Skjalandir is not the only problem lately. The forces of Darkness are coming in the form of an orcish invasion that may rival the Chaos Incursion two centuries prior. Grey Seer Thanquol, one of the Skaven, along with Lurk, his mutated henchman, wants revenge against the dwarf and human. Lastly, the infamous orc leader, Ugrek Manflayer, is en route. It all adds up for one heck of a climatic ending, typical of the Felix and Gotrek pairing.

**** The dragon did not show up in this story nearly as much as I expected. However, there are several battles and tactical plans to keep readers entertained. The love triangle between Ulrika, Felix, and Max continues as a sub-plot, not to mention the Thanquol sub-plot. Readers will not find anything new in the love triangle, but there is a bit of change in the parts concerning Thanquol and Lurk. In an interesting twist, readers will find out what is so special about the sword Felix has been carrying.

The scenes jump around often, but in my opinion, not too much so as to become a problem or confusing. The background of some of the main characters are filled out some so I actually feel as though I understand them a bit more, as well as how they think. This shows great talent on the author's part. A great addition to the Gotrek & Felix series! ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

If you are reading this, I hope that you have read the previous three books in the series (Trollslayer, Skavenslayer, Deamonslayer). If not, perhaps you are just curious to what this series is all about. If you are, go pick up a copy of Trollslayer. It is a short story anthology of Gotrek and Felix's early adventures. The first two stories alone will give you all the information you need as to whether this series is for you. Now on to the readers of the previous books...

In Dragonslayer, Gotrek and Felix face, yep you guessed it, a dragon. Ah, but it's no ordinary dragon (as you'll have to read to book to find out). No new ground is broken in this book, but I think that's exactly what King's readers want. Gotrek and Felix are familiar characters that we like just how they are. We like the kinds of adventures they have. We're not looking for deep personal dramas or romances. The Slayer series is like Raiders of the Lost Ark with an Axe! And Kings fans love it.

This book takes off directly where Daemonslayer ends making this book feel more like it's part of a series than any of the previous books. A decent amount of time is spent in a Dwarven city making for a new and interesting setting, and for the first time since Wolfridders, Gotrek gets to confront Gobbos (sort of).

It was inevitable that the duo would clash against a dragon (especially since in the game, the progression of a slayer in order is: trollslayer, giantslayer, dragonslayer, daemonslayer), and after facing off against a greater daemon, what else can you do? I still feel that, like daemonslayer, the scope of these conflicts is too soon for a series that will last 10-12 books, but it's fun none-the-less. Readers of Daemonlayer will note that this book is a little slower and less climactic than that book, but it is still one of the best in the series.

As always, my reviews are meant to be objective. Fans of the series can add an extra star.

Mr. Fudge's book is eye opening. I had believed the traditional view of hell for over 20 years. Now I can't believe how unscriptural it is. The conditionalist view fits perfectly. The technical name is called "Conditional Immortality" and Mr. Fudge does an excellent job stating the case. The forward is by the great evangelical scholar F.F. Bruce.

The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23) (not eternal torment.) The eternal fire was made for the devil (Matt 25:41) so unbelievers die there, not live forever. The fire is eternal, not what is thrown into it. The punishment is death. Capital Punishment. Don't think death is a punishment, try telling that to someone on death row.

Fudge does an excellent job showing how this is the case. Eternal punishment is death forever. The loss of their life. Don't we view the death penalty as the greatest of all societies punishments? Why, because it removes the possibility of life anymore. The same is true of the lost on judgment day. This is when the death will occur, argues Fudge.

You see, only believers live forever (John 6:51, 8:51). Only believers get immortality (Romans 2:7). Immortality is part and parcel with the gospel (2 Tim 1:10). Unbelievers die the second death (Rev. 20:15). Jesus said they are "destroyed" (His words) in hell, not live forever (Matthew 10:28). Even if Matthew 10:28 were the only verse that proves the soul of the unsaved will be destroyed (and there are more), we would have to accept it based upon the authority of the Son of God. Thankfully, Fudge shows many more.

Another excellent point he makes, `Gnashing of teeth' in scripture is always an idiom for anger! (Psalm 37:12, Acts 7:54). The list goes on and on. Fudge does a much better job than I have here. He is also an attorney.

At the root of this all is the churches acceptance of the greek teaching of the immortality of all souls. This is completely unbiblical. If all are born with immortality, then why do people have to seek it (Romans 2:7 says clearly we are to "seek" it.) Only believers put on immortality at the resurrection (1 Cor 15:53-54). Immortality is only gotten through the gospel (2 Tim 1:10 clearly states this.) Jesus offer to live forever (John 6:51) would be meaningless if innate immortality were true. Only God is immortal (1 Tim 6:16) and immortality is his gift to those seek it, who seek His Son. (Rom 2:7)

Mr. Fudge also covers all the "what about these...." Scriptures. Too much for this space. Get this book for your pastor too!

Or for a similar powerful book on Amazon, purchase The Resurrection and Immortality by William West and look at the later chapters. Also, do a search for Samuele Bacchiocchi, (yes it is spelled correctly here) and get his book on the resurrection.

The traditional doctrine of hell besmirches the character of God. Jesus said the wicked will be destroyed (Matt 10:28) , so did Paul (Philippians 3:19) and James (James 4:12). As an evangelical, I am glad to now know the correct scriptural teaching on this. And while neither I nor Fudge is a Seventh Day Adventist, they also correctly hold to this. So do many other evangelicals who are adhering to the plain meaning of scripture.

The meretricious devotion this author holds toward canonized scripture humors me, as does that of his far greater predecessors in the conditional immortality debate. His work is by no means revolutionary, and without having read it, I can already recommend better authors in his field. (Dr. Leroy Froom, for example, whose works are put at the forefront.) Invariably, the usual arguments catch the laity off guard, but genuine biblical scholars of orthodox theology are not led astray by the heresy of ultimate annihilation, anthropological monism, or conditionalism.

Is conditionalism an ancient doctrine? Yes, and the origins are readily available. To briefly summarize what would otherwise be several volumes of refutation, conditional immortality was originally advocated by Arnobious of Sicca- c. 327 C.E., whose personal record as a Christian apologist is amongst the most pitiful, albeit entertaining, in clerical history. Also hailed as Arnobious the Elder, he was an enemy of both Judaism (Unlike Paul) and Christianity and a proponent of Asiatic mysticysm. According to the tale told by his subsequent disciples, Arnobious met a spiritual Jesus after awakening from a bad dream, who transformed the mystic into a self proclaimed sage, endowing him with the knowledge of God apart from scriptural reading. Rather than acknowledging mainstream Christianity, Arnobious opened his own school and taught his remarkable "dream" philosophies in Sicca, Africa, where he wrote a flawed, though sincere, theological treatise titled "Against the Pagans" c. 305 C.E. In this work, conditionalism, annihilation, and anthropological-monism appear for the first time in Christian history. Amazingly, Arnobious confounded the Pharisees with the Sadducees in several references to Jewish sects, and quoted the New Testament only ONCE in the treatise. As Catholic Friar Jurgen comments, the treatise does hold water- not in the realm of theological truth, but certainly in its revealed information about the cults of the time. This is the historical basis for conditionalism.

On the purported claim that immortal soulism was derived from Greco mythology and Platonism, such an idea is true only for those without knowledge of Judaic sects of Essene or Kabbalist, both of which held to the doctrine of an immaterial, immortal spirit. Contrary to what conditionalist scholars would have you believe, Orthodox Judaism itself has always taught immortal soulism, and rabbinical interpretation of the Old Testament does not find man and beast to be equal. Let it never be said, therefore, that the Hebrew Bible does not teach immortal soulism, on the contrary, those to whom it belongs find it amusing that conditionalists unable to speak Hebrew consider themselves expert on a Hebraic eschatology. (It should come as no surprise, since conditionalists also rate themselves as the sole beneficiaries of Y-w-h's irrevocable blessings to the Jews. How strange they cannot grasp the Old Testament's clearly defined salvation of Israel, while nonetheless being able to comprehend nebulous doctrines inferred by "divine inference".) As for the human soul in Hebrew, the solitary "nephesh" is contextualized, but with blatant arrogance, conditionalists assume their fragmented knowledge is somehow supplemented by divine illumination- in combination, of course, with the authority of Arnobious the Dreamer. On this threefold foundation rests every claim of conditionalism; the dogma gains momentum by its humane appeal to modern society. Yet as a fly in the face of both mainstream Christianity AND Judaism, conditionalists maintain a long tradition of denying reality, whilst usurping the texts of two major religions. (I suppose at least it speaks for the short lived worth of Arnobious's own text.) (...) There's little doubt I know more about his own theories than the author of the book.

After several years this is still the best defence of the conditional position. Any one who holds to a high view of scripture and is curious about hell must interact with this text. This view is, of course, a held by a minority whithin the evengelical spectum and as such should be held to the hightest level of critical examination. Fudge's integrity thoughout renders this possible. Also helpfull is "Four Views on Hell" in the counterpoints seires where the conditional view is contrasted with the two versions of the traditonal view.

What does the Bible really teach about God's righteous wrath. Is God's wrath a means to an end, or is God's wrath an end in itself?

What does the Bible mean by such words and phrases as "forever," "unquenchable fire," "eternal punishment," "eternal destruction," "death," etc.

Do you really wish to submit to the authority of God's infallible Word on the subject of hell. Then, dear reader, read this book!

This book is an excellent work that anyone will find challenging whatever their position. If you agree with Fudge's view, you will find this particularly enlightening. If you disagree with Fudge, you will find this book well thought out, provocative, and educative.

Fudge's respect for the authority of Scritpure as the Word of God is in the finest tradition of Evangelicalism.

I also highly recommend Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi's recent book "Immortality or Resurrection?"

-- Jarrod

Another solid sword & sorcery novel from William King. The introduction of
the elven archmage Teclis provides a rare glimpse into the culture of an interesting Old World race that this series had largely ignored.

I've been reading the Felix and Gotrek series as I come across them, and not in any particular order, enjoying them as I get the chance. I actually came across them purely by chance and offhand, I think the Warhammer series by William King are a superb collection of game-based literature, bringing the game's atmosphere to life quite credibly.

The series is written in chronological order, following the adventures of Felix Jaeger and the Dwarven Slayer Gotrek Gurnisson, ostensibly told in a series of volumes by Felix Jaeger entitled "My Travels with Gotrek." It's definitely not a series for the faint at heart who dislike blood, gore and mindless violence. On the other hand, if you enjoy a well-written tale involving the afore-mentioned subjects, this series is for you.....

This particular book, #7 in the series and currently the last, takes up where Vampireslayer leaves off, with Felix, Gotrek Gurnnison, Snorri Nosebiter (another Dwarven Slayer and compatriot of Gotrek's) and Max the wizard in Sylvania where they have just finished off a rather nasty vampire. There's a bit of a continuity issue between Vampireslayer and this book if you're picky - in Vampireslayer all the Kislevian spearchuckers were slaughtered and all that were left were our trusty heroes, Gotrek and Felix, along with Snorri, Max, the Countess and Ulrika (now, sadly, a vampire). But at the start of Giantslayer, all of a sudden there are surviving Kislevian spearchuckers. A bit disconcerting to those of us to whom continuity is not just a pretty word. But a mere minor flaw in the greater scheme of things.

A new character, the High-Elf mage Teclis, is introduced near the start, along with portents of doom which set him off on a mission to bring an end to a Chaos attack on the magic that holds the World together. The book the notches up the action as our 4 heroes are (in the best of traditions) attacked by hordes of beastmen lead by a fearsome chaos warrior (slaughtered by Gotrek of course). Felix and Gotrek stray into magical pathways in the course of the fight and encounter Teclis, with whom they team up. At this stage, Snorrri and MAx exit, stage right, never to reappear in this novel.

There are some unforgettable and hilarious exchanges between Gotrek and the High-Elf Teclis (no love lost between elves and dwarves here) as they are thrown together thru force of circumstances. They emerge in the land of Albion and, with new companions, who of course, are all sluaghtered in battles against the hordes of evil, battle their way through the massed forces of evil and chaos to a climatic final battle where Gotrek slays a Giant (surprise, that....) and assists Teclis in slaying the evil mage twins, Kelmain and Lhoigor. The final battle is Felix and Gotrek at their best, Gotrek slaying hordes with abandon. The High-Elf Mage, Teclis, has a few tricks of his own and a particularly nasty laugh that's beautifully described. Felix, of course, survives.

All in all, one of the better books on the series, with a lot more hack and slash gore and violence and a bit less in the way of scene setting and character development than Vampireslayer. For readers that have enjoyed the previous books in the series and want action, action and more action, this will definitely not be a disappointment. Unfortunately, as of January 2007, this is the last in the series.

Great story. Fun read. But Gotrek has been trying to get himself killed through 6 books now, and still hasnt managed to do it. Now he travels with a powerful elf mage to kill more bad guys.

There is more foreshadowing of Gotreks' eventual fate, but he still manages to survive the novel. So, lets bring this series to an end before we rename it 'Wheel of Time 2'

The magical energy needed to maintain Ulthuan is being bled off. If something is not done soon, it will be destroyed. Gotrek Gurnisson does not see anything wrong with that. After all, the dwarfish people still hold an ancient grudge against all elves. But the legendary high elf mage, Teclis, informs Gotrek that unless they find the source of the trouble and eliminate it, he could kiss his dwarfish kin in the mountains goodbye too.

Felix and Gotrek (with much grumbling from the latter) must aid the elf wizard on a quest to destroy a mutual enemy that would threaten the world. They must travel through the Paths of the Old Ones, battle many malignant evils, and even deal with a bubble reality. Yet their ultimate goal is much worse. Gotrek just may find his noble doom.

***** With the title of Giantslayer I think there should have been more giants. This happened once before, that I recall, in this series. The creatures, in the title, being slain are seldom mentioned (if ever) during most of the story and only toward the tales' endings are they seen or mentioned. (Bummer.) Still, this story has a solid foundation. I, as the reader, learned a bit more about the ancient grudge between the dwarfish people and the elves. I am very impressed with Teclis. I love it whenever I notice Warhammer books cross over into other series. (Be sure to watch out for that. There is a mention about von Carstein herein.) One thing is certain, author William King KNOWS Slayers! Superior! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

After a rather dull and disappointing showing in the previous book "Vampireslayer", in this, the 7th book in the Felix & Gotrek series (--after "Trollslayer", "Skavenslayer", "Daemonslayer", "Dragonslayer", "Beastslayer" and "Vampireslayer"--) William King bounces back and gives us one of the strongest entries in the series so far.

The book introduces an interesting new character, ages-old High Elf mage Teclis. In the midst of the ongoing Chaos onslaught on the Old World, Teclis becomes aware of a plot to harness powers which could hold dire consequences for the entire Warhammer world. Can he stop it in time?

Naturally along the way he runs into our intrepid twosome, and they proceed to have an unforgettable adventure which takes them from the very edges of reality (eat your heart out, Dr.Strange!) to the midst of an epic battle between massed rival forces of evil.

As much of the book's action takes place on the isle of Albion, the counterpart in the Warhammer world to William King's native Scotland, King must have especially enjoyed writing this part. He also makes very effective use of playing off the tensions between Elves and Dwarves in the often strained relationship between Gotrek and Teclis.

I was happy to see my favourite Felix & Gotrek villains of all, evil twin albino mages Kelmain & Lhoigor back again. But I was a bit disappointed that we did not spend much time with them this time out compared to their previous appearance in "Beastslayer". I think they are truly worthy and most importantly INTERESTING adversaries and I hope William King will bring them back again sometime in the future (--hey, any writer truly worth his salt can always figure out a cool way to bring back a beloved villain everyone thought defeated for good ;) ). I LOVED their backstory in "Beastslayer" and want to hear MORE! (--Or how about giving them their own book?!)

Overall, I think I would rate this installment as my #2 favourite in the series after "Daemonslayer". While I did love the siege of Praag seen in "Beastslayer", I think this book was even more enjoyable because our heroes were on the move again, taking them through some very interesting and mysterious places. And the build-up of tension in the book kept me eagerly turning the pages as they continued on their quest. It's a wild ride that takes us to some fantastic places we've never seen before, and my only minor criticism is that the ending could have been a bit stronger.

For those new to the series, I'd probably recommend "Daemonslayer" first. But for those who have already read that great work and are hungry for more of the same calibre, this book is just what the manling ordered!

But now that I've read this, the most recent installment, I find myself with no more fresh Felix & Gotrek left. :( It's been a year and a half already. Where is the next book??? Come on William King, don't keep the fans waiting! We need MORE. I can't get enough of these guys!

Oh well, guess I'll go sharpen my battle-axe or something... You never know when the forces of Chaos will strike again next!

An insider's view of growing up with the greatest comedian of all time. It doesn't get better than this, kids. You can practically smell Uncle Miltie's cigar.

'My Father, Uncle Miltie' presents the story of growing up as legendary comedian Milton Berle's son. MFUM tells the behind the scene details of Milton's somewhat private life, a life full of gambling, women and mild hatred toward his son. MFUM provides anecdotes never before made public, and makes one think of how much Berle's private and public life were vastly different. I recommend this book to any fan of Berle who wants to catch a deep glimpse of his character behind the curtain, and off the television screen. One might me a bit amazed...as I was.

This book was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I was afraid it would be a real "Mommie Dearest" hatchet job on poor old Milton, but although there were certainly some problems in their relationship, Bill has the honesty to point out that it was his fault as much as his father's. It would be interesting to know how (or if) their relationship was affected by this book - did they speak at all after it was published? (By the way - my sympathies, Bill. It's tough to lose a parent but especially so when you were on the outs with him.)

I have always heard that comedians by nature are truly serious people, and basically an unhappy group. Therefore, it doesn't surprise me that Milton Berle treated people, especially his son Bill, so obusively. MFUM humanizes the great TV star and, in fact, I pitied my idol after reading this book. I'm sure that Bill Berle would have much preferred a "real father" from a modest background rather than a superstar ogre such as Uncle Miltie. MFUM was an informative, interesting, well written book, and while it shattered my image of Milton Berle, I found it quite enjoyable.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with this easy to read work. The book is rich in the interesting history of one of the world's most beloved entertainers, penned by someone that could only be a loving son. Both funny and tragic, it held my attention through the honesty without scandal. An unexpected ending certainly reminds us we're all equals! Thanks, Bill!

A combination of "Romeo and Juliet," "Much Ado About Nothing," "As You Like It," and "King Lear?" Well somehow, Shakespeare made it work. Like "Romeo and Juliet" we have a protagonist (Imogen) who falls under her father's rages because she will not marry who he wants her to. Like "Much Ado About Nothing," we have a villain (Iachimo) who tries to convince a man (Posthumus) that the woman he loves is full of infidelity. Like "As You Like It," we have exiled people who praise life in the wilderness and a woman who disguises herself as a man to search for her family in the wilderness. Like "King Lear," we have a king who's rages and miscaculated judgement lead to disastorous consequences. What else is there? Only beautiful language, multiple plots, an evil queen who tries to undermind the king, an action filled war, suspense, a dream with visions of Pagan gods, and a beautiful scene of reconciliation at the end. While this is certainly one of Shakespeare's longer plays, it is well worth the time.

This is probably one of the most outdated and misleading of the Arden editions. Nosworthy really doesn't like the play and dismisses it as an experiment leading up to _The Tempest_. Even his editing of the text is affected by his reading of the play. Only scholars who know something about Shakespeare should venture here.

"Cymbeline" is my favourite Shakespeare play. It's also probably his loopiest. It has three plots, managing to drag in a banishment, a murder, a wicked queen, a moment of almost sheer pornography, a full-on battle between the Romans and the British, a spunky heroine, her jealous but not-really-all-that-bad husband, some fantastic poetry and Jupiter himself descending out of heaven on an eagle to tell the husband to pull his finger out and get looking for his wife. Finally, just when your head is spinning with all the cross-purposes and dangling resolutions, Shakespeare pulls it all together with shameless neatness and everybody lives happily ever after. Except for the wicked queen, and her son, who had his head cut off in Act 4.

"Cymbeline" is, then, completely nuts, but it manages also to be very moving. Quentin Tarantino once described his method as "placing genre characters in real-life situations" - Shakespeare pulls off the far more rewarding trick of placing realistic characters in genre situations. Kicking off with one of the most brazen bits of expository dialogue he ever created, not even bothering to give the two lords who have to explain the back story an ounce of personality, Shakespeare quickly recovers full control and races through his long, complex and deeply implausible narrative at a headlong pace. The play is outrageously theatrical, and yet intensely observed. Imogen's reaction on reading her husband's false accusation of her infidelity is a riveting mixture of hurt and anger; she goes through as much tragedy as a Juliet, yet is less inclined to buckle and snap under the pressure. When she wakes up next to a headless body that she believes to be her husband, her aria of grief is one of the finest WS ever wrote. No less impressive is her plucky determination to get on with her life, rather than follow her hubby into the grave.

Posthumus, the hubby in question, is made of less attractive stuff, but when he comes to believe that Imogen is dead, as he ordered (this play is full of people getting things wrong and suffering for it), he rejects his earlier jealousy and starts to redeem himself a tad. There's a vicious misogyny near the heart of this play, as Shakespeare biographer Park Honan observed, kept in balance by a hatred of violence against women. The oafish prince Cloten, who lusts after Imogen, is a truly repellent piece of work, without even the intelligence of Iago or the horrified panic of Macbeth; his plan to kill Posthumus and rape Imogen before her husband's body is just about as squalid and vindictive as we expect of this louse, and when a long-lost son of the king (don't even _ask_) lops Cloten's head off, there are cheers all round.

Shakespeare sends himself up all through "Cymbeline". I wonder if the almost ludicrously informative opening exposition scene isn't a bit of a gag on his part, but when a tired and angry Posthumus breaks into rhyming couplets, then catches himself and observes "You have put me into rhyme", we know that Shakespeare is having us on a little. Likewise, the final scene, when all is resolved, goes totally over the top in its piling-on "But-what-of-such-and-such?" and "My-Lord-I-forgot-to-mention" moments.

Yet the moments of terror and pity are deep enough to make the jokiness feel truly earned. When Imogen is laid to rest and her adoptive brothers recite "Fear no more the heat o' the sun" over her body, it's as affecting as any moment in the canon. That she isn't actually dead, we don't find out until a few moments later, but it's still a great moment.

Playful, confusing, enigmatic, funny and shot through with a frightening darkness, this is another top job by the Stratford boy. Well done.

Cymbeline was a British king in Roman times ( Augustus Caesar's time).
Devices used in the Play:
1) a woman plays a man/ boy role ( several of his plays : As You Like it,
Twelfth Night))
2) a deception by a villain to lie the virtue of a Lady ( Much Ado about
Nothing)
3) Princes kidnapped and brought up as common men ( I don't know if he
uses this in other plays)
4) poison that causes a coma ( Romeo and Juliet)
5) a Prince who is a vile fool ( used in his historical plays)
6) a Queen who is a plotter and evil ( Macbeth)
7) a Prince who kills another Prince and it redeemed by his hidden
identity
8) a Prince sentenced to hang by mistake
9) a King who condemns his daughter wrongly ( King Lear)
One wonders how much of this is historical fact and how much pure fiction.
With all this scheming in the plot , it should be a very successful
play.
It is a total flop!
What it comes out is seeming unreal and contrived.
You get that happy ending feel that is so much in his comedies
but it has a very false feeling to it.
That's probably why Cymbeline isn't performed much.
If he hadn't gone for all these at once it might have worked, but the
result is that you see the playwright as ....
If anyone wants to take the air out of a Shakespeare pedant,
this is the play to do it with! He makes Shaw and Eugene O'neil l
look good. He even make Rogers and Hammerstein and Gilbert and
Sullivan look better, ha, ha...
This play is not Shakespeare's finest hour!

Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare's least performed and least read plays. You do not stumble on it, you work your way through Shakespeare's opus and finally get there. The historical context is the war between Britain and the Roman Empire, and the action is hot and heavy, requiring five acts and twenty-seven scenes. Perhaps it is this complexity of plot that retarded Shakespeare's character development. Fewer lines have entered our lexicon from this play than most. Two exceptions are "the tongue is sharper than the sword," and to have "a bellyful of fighting." It is an excellent tragedy, however, combining elements of King Lear and elements of Othello. In its mystic elements it also resembles The Tempest.

The core of the plot is the bet between Posthumous, the king's son, and Iachimo, who wagers ten thousand ducats that he can seduce Posthumous' wife, Imogen. Posthumous, in turn, wagers a ring that Imogen has given him that Iachimo will not succeed. Initially, we amused by the idea, but upon further reflection, it is clear that the gambit cannot have a happy ending. Either the seduction is successful, breaking up the marriage, or it isn't, in which case Iachimo will certainly claim that he has secuced Imogen, simply to win the ring. In the process he sets himself the Iago-like task of converting love to hate.

The play is also full of classic Shakespearean gadgetry, including a potion that causes a trance resembling death, mystical soothsayers, the intervention of gods, women disguised as men, and a historical tableau which would have been familiar to Shakespeare's audience. It is a quintessential Shakespearean play, comprising nearly all of the classical elements of tragedy. If the plot could have been pruned, and the characters given more of the dimensionality that we expect from Shakespeare, Cymbeline would stand on a higher pedestal.

The Folger Shakespeare Library's annotated edition is excellent. It provides just the right notation on the page facing the text, and can be studied or ignored to suit the reader's purpose.

To have the four great tragedies together raises the question of what the essence, the real heart of Shakespearean tragedy is.
In Aristotle's definition of Greek tragedy the overweening pride of the hero(hubris) and tragic fault( hamartia ) lead to his eventual destruction. The audience watching this is in the course of this purged of pity and fear.
In Shakespearean tragedy there is as in Aristotle a hero who is larger than the ordinary man. The hero too has a great flaw and comes to a destructive end. But the doubt and hesitancy of dreaming Hamlet, the great ambition for kingship of Macbeth, the blind filial love of Lear seem more emotionally complex than that of the Greek heroes. And the language in which the story of their respective downfalls is told is too more rich, complex, and ambivalent than that of the clearer Greek earlier model.
And this in such a way that the Shakespearean tragic heroes each seem to be in themselves a kind of supreme human essence, a manifestation of character at its greatest level of intensity.
Shakespeare's greatest heroes are individuals who become in some sense the ' type' of themselves, and live in our minds as models of humanity in its extreme essence.
'Greatness is all'

this is a great book for shakespeare fans. it was the first time i read shakespeare outside of class, and it was very interesting. i didn't like the prefaces much, i didn't have the patience to read them. i felt they were very of long, and harder to read and understand than the actual shakespeare. they actual plays-not stories, just to clarify- are wonderful. it would be a great book to read if you are taking a literature class and want to get a head start or if you want to expand your vocabulary. you can even relate the problems of those times to the problems of today. the plays were very fun to read once you got into them; shakespeare is just as great as he is said to be.

An integral part to any Shakespeare work is the presence of footnotes! This book has a glossary, but it does not do any good because there is not sign in the actual text itself that one can look up specific words in the glossary. While the plays themselves are very enjoyable, do not purchase this edition unless you feel very confident about your ability to read Shakespearean language.

this is an excellent 'cheap' edition of the great tragedies. besides being edited by david bevington, considered one of the foremost shakespeare scholars, the bantam edition also includes introductory essays for each play AND the source material that shakespeare used - ie, the actual short stories or plays that the bard drew on to the write his plays. wonderful stuff and a great way to get into shakespeare.

Hamlet
This play, of course, is perhaps the best known in all of English literature. Taking it's inspiration from lesser plays and tales of the same name, Shakespeare crafted the characters, dialogue and plot into a timeless tale of betrayal, the quest for justice, and ultimately a hollow victory. This play, in short, is a downer.

I will speak daggers to her, but use none.

Of course, it really thrilled the audiences, who, lacking the primetime violence of today, enjoyed seeing the blood, the gore, the violence, the swordplay. Those with a more subtle bent were very satisfied with the wonderful dialogues, full of double and self-reflexive meanings. So many of the monologues have become common parlance in our language.

A hit, a very palpable hit.

The 'on one foot' synopsis: Hamlet, prince of Denmark, is suspicious that his step-father killed his father and usurped the throne and his mother's bedchamber; he plots to get revenge; in the meantime his love-interest Ophelia dies; in a duel to the death at the end the mother dies, the step-father dies, the duel contender dies, and Hamlet dies. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

The rest is silence.

Othello
Rude I am in speech,
And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace

Surely Shakespeare was not speaking of himself here. Even his poorly-spoken characters cannot help to have an elegance and subtlety all their own. Othello is another tragedy, this one driven by jealousy. The exact cause of the jealousy can vary; Iago can be jealous of Othello, of his love for Desdemona, of Desdemona herself, or several other possibilities. The emphasis often lies in the performance, and Shakespeare's play is written broadly enough to allow for any of these to be correct interpretations.

But men are men; the best sometimes forget.

Othello satisfied the need for violence, for passion, and for intrigue. 'On one foot', Iago, servant and friend of Othello, who also hates Othello, plants the seeds of suspicion that Desdemona has been unfaithful, leading Othello down a treacherous path that leads in his ultimate murder of Desdemona.

Take note, take note, O world!
To be direct and honest is not safe.

During one performance in the American Old West, an audience member became so entranced and enraged with the actor's portrayal of Iago that he took out his pistol and shot him. The tombstone of the actor reads 'Here lies the greatest actor'.

Lear
The prince of darkness is a gentleman.

This most difficult of Shakespeare plays, both for performing and for studying, is one of the true masterpieces of English (or any) literature, and yet is underperformed and underappreciated due to the power of its complexity and of its tragedy. Indeed, often the tragedy at the end has been softened by having Cordelia survive victorious. Beware these kinds of performances--they not Shakespeare's intent, however much we wish.

Lear begins with folly, and ends in tragedy, while treachery and evil seems to creep like a vine choking off first this person, then that. The fool is the only wise one; the insane are the only protected, and the nobles increasingly lose nobility of intent and action as the events progress. Gloucester and Lear are both deceived by wicked children turned against their better offspring; all ends in tragedy for most of the lot.

Lear addresses sibling rivalries, parent/child relationships, poverty and insanity, and any number of other readily accessible issues, but all interwoven so tightly that they cannot be unravelled easily, yet all the while the world for the characters are unravelling thread by thread before our very eyes. Lear points out the folly of human planning and agency. Lear was banned from performance, actually, during 1788-1820 when George III was considered insane, and the connexion between stage and royalty would be too blurred for official comfort.

Howl, howl, howl, howl! O! you are men of stones!

Macbeth
The witches, the blood-stained hands, the play whose name must not be mentioned in a theatre lest bad luck befall the actor or production. Macbeth is all of these, and more. Loosely based upon a real historical character, the tragedy here is one of ambition.

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air

Did Macbeth really see the ghost of Banquo at the banquet, or was it indigestion because of the haggis? Macbeth can be played with or without a conscience, which makes for differing character development, but both options are available in Shakespeare's flexible playwriting.

Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell

Macbeth is driven by his ambition, but also by the ambition of his wife, Lady Macbeth, as treacherous a villain in many respects as any male character in Shakespeare. Macbeth has an overgrown sense of invincibility, convinced by prophecies that his course will be successful, and ordinarily it is (until it all goes awry); it is a successful struggle to the throne, but never secure, and in the end, all is lost.

Macbeth may be the bloodiest of Shakespeare's plays, a thrill for Elizabethan audiences, and a wonder to behold as the scenes get ever more desperate and darker.

This edition
There are so many editions of Shakespeare available, and many have merits. This particular volume of the four major tragic plays provides commentary by David Bevington which is insightful and accessible; it also gives photographs of performances and stagings by the New York Shakespeare Festivals, modernised spelling and concordance listings of major passages. Not short by any means (nearly 1000 pages), this will nonetheless give a good study to the plays, with visual aids, and supportive material, all in one volume.

Perhaps one of the best of Shakespeare's plays, King Lear is worth a good read. I was introduced to the ARDEN series by a class that required us all to be on the same page as it were, so I was at first weary to use them. Like all editions put out (Penguin, Folger, Barnes and Noble, Arden, etc) They all have valuable notes and references, introductions and essays on various subjects on the content, form and history of the play you are about to read. So half this book is taken up by the introdcution and history. Every Arden starts with the same couple of chapters on Shakpespeare. The editor, R.A. Foakes has a very in depth and interseting introduction to the text of LEAR which is worth a read, but of course, in my opinion, after you have read the play and tried to understand it for yourself.

I personally prefer the way the Folger series of shakespeare is set up with text on one page and the notes for it are directly opposite the page you are reading, making note referencing while you read easy. Arden tends to give you notes on variations between the quarto and folio which is good, but when I'm reading a play I could care less about textual variations or how editors have fussed with changing one word to make sense of a thought. However interesting it sometimes is, I don't like looking down to read a note on a passage and its all about the textual variation, but will not explain the thought further.

Final thought: Great Resource for reading LEAR, not the best for READING LEAR, especially for the first time.

This is a conflated edition of King Lear, with Foakes combining the two original sources. When the chips are down -- that is, when one cannot have both versions -- he tends to opt for the later (Folio) one. This is especially so in the last scene where this choice produces a somewhat less bleak ending.

On each page of the play's text about half the space is taken up with notes. These can, by and large, be ignored if you want to enjoy the play, but can be highly useful if something puzzles you. They cover a variety of matters, such as the meaning of now obscure word, interpretation when it is not clear what word is actually meant, choices where the two originals have difference words, often explaining the choice, possible stage direction or ways of staging the play and so on. They are usually well done, though possibly excessive.

A long essay introducing the play explains the editor's approach, comments on some critical issues, and comments on various stagings of the play. These are informative and often stimulating, with Foakes not being stridently attached to any one interpretation. There is available elsewhere an incredibly large amount of comment on all aspects of King Lear and how to interpret it, most of which Foakes wisely ignores. The play is the thing, and one of the advantages of reading it (as opposed to atending a production) is that one can contemplate the different interpretations and emphases that are possible. To a large extent Foakes sets this up, and then lets the reader proceed, rather than forcing a particular version, as happens (often very badly when directors want to demonstrate their originality) inevitably with a staged -- or filmed or audio -- production.

This is timeless Shakespearean drama, about a King and his three daughters, wrapped around corruption, betrayal and tragedy. It speaks to the power and pressure of leadership, and modern politicians would well to heed its valuable lessons.

STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM

This is a terrific play, and the characterization is remarkable. It's considered a masterpiece, and for good reason.

But there is still one small comment I would like to make. Read the play. Then ask yourself who on Earth the character Goneril was. Um, she was the Queen of England. Not the wife of the King. The Queen. Albany was her consort.

Lear was no longer the King. Regan was not the Queen. Cordelia was not the Queen. Goneril was. And had a Man with her attitude about power been the ruler, no one would think it strange.

Yes, Lear is a tragic character, and it sure is tragic when he holds his beloved but dead Cordelia and asks if she is still alive. But Goneril is a tragic character too, and it is tragic when, upon getting clobbered in a battle, she decides to kill herself. And when asked how the battle is going, right before she dies, she replies, "Not so hot."

The Arden edition of King Lear (I believe this one is in its third printing) is a combination of both the Quarto and the Folio editions of the play. Of course, when you end up with a conflated edition (one that is made up of both) you are left at the mercy of the editor but, for my money, R.A. Foakes does an excellent job of integrating the manuscripts and often points out in the notes which and why certain choices were made.

Other people have summarized the plot of King Lear here at amazon.com so I won't engage in that sort of review. I will concentrate instead on the particular edition and why I think it's among the best and then I will point out some things to look for in the play, things that I believe deserve close attention, things that will add to your enjoyment of the play.

First of all the Arden edition - the book is basically divided into two major parts: the essays and the play. The play occupies the top half of each page, while the editorial notes and "translations" are found on the bottom. So, for example, when King Lear first lets us know about "divesting" his kingdom, Foakes tells us that this word is important because it sets an important pattern regarding clothes throughout the play.

Sometimes the observations are incisive and surprisingly good, sometimes not as good. For example, when Lear starts talking about "By all the operation of the orbs / From whom we do exist, and cease to be", Foakes points out that the orbs are the planets (during Shakespeare's lifetime, the alignments of the planets was important - the word "disaster" actually means stars out of alignment - the kind of worldview that held the earth as the center of the universe was the worldview that Shakespeare inherited and lived in). But Foakes fails to mention that the orbs are also our EYES and in their full operation, opening your eyes can make one "exist" (as in we see them) and closing your eyes can make one "cease to be" (as in you don't see them). Furthermore, the orbs can be seen as being the eyes of God and us existing in them. Bishop Berkely's philosophy relied heavily on the idea that everything exists because God perceives it.

Anyway, just realize that the greatest of notes are nowhere near as good as the greatest of care and attention when reading. Especially when reading the greatest writer that ever lived.

Now onto some things I believe everyone should pay attention to. The word "love" appears in the play more than any other word of meaning (obviously I'm excluding words like "the" in the search). Now if you combine language that are related to eyes (sight, orbs, look, see, etc) you will also notice a great preponderance of these words. The same thing will happen if you combine the other senses (touch, feeling, smell, etc). Why is this of any import? Well, if you're going to write about something, you're going to have to use words. If something is important, you're going to want to drive that point home so you will be using some words more than others. This is an indication that the play you're reading is going to be about those things. So "love", "seeing", "nature", "clothes" and animals such as "dog, snake, wolf, etc" are words that appear a lot and are important.

Sometime Shakespeare is so goddamn clever that you could spend a lifetime and not catch everything. For example, it wasn't until my 2nd reading of the play that I noticed he tells Kent
"Our potency made good, take thy reward.
Five days we do allot thee, for provision
To shield thee from diseases of the world;
And on the sixth to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom: if, on the tenth day following,
Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! by Jupiter,
This shall not be revoked."

Notice the word "provision". The root of the word is pro-vision. It means to look ahead. Later on in the play Kent reappears, in disguise! Is Shakespeare having fun with us or am I reading too much into what could be an unintended use of the word? Let me put it this way - if I'm going to find morsels like this one, Shakespeare gets the credit.

The words relating to seeing and feeling are especially important if you take tragedy to be an epistemological problem. If the tragic figure is one that denies a kind of knowledge (Lear and Gloucester certainly do this) then one can deny it by not seeing or feeling, hence the words that relate to the acquisition of knowledge through empirical means. Notice in the above verses that Kent will be told to re-appear, but he can only reappear in disguise. Lear has already denied his love and devotion. Kent must reappear as something else to allow Lear to "love him" again.

Lastly, pay close attention to Shakespeare's doubling and mirroring. This is a favorite thing of his to do. I remember that the first time I read "Measure for Measure" I noticed doubling and mirroring on every page. Then I read it again and noticed these things every 5 lines. Then I read it again and started noticing them with ever increasing frequency! In King Lear the mirroring is much more subtle and even more rewarding. Notice how Goneril ends up "confusing" Gloucester with Lear when she tells him to "smell" his "way to Dover". From that moment on Gloucester and Lear become doubles and possibly even more and the reader becomes a party to the confusion.

Reading Shakespeare is a mind blowing experience and King Lear is probably his greatest play (and that's saying something considering he also wrote "Hamlet", "Othello" and "Macbeth").

Shakespeare wrote this play towards the end of his playwright's career. He had two daughters, one of which was a bit of an embarrassment to him. It's fun to hypothesize whether retiring was on his mind and if it was his own intent

"To shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburthen'd crawl toward death."

I cannot leave a review of King Lear without mentioning some important essays on it. A few years back philosopher Stanley Cavell wrote a review called "The Avoidance of Love". His reading of King Lear is revolutionary beyond belief. No student or lover of Shakespeare's plays should be without it. The essay has been combined with other Cavell essays on other Shakespearian plays and is available in the book "Disowning Knowledge". Amazon has it. It will blow your mind. Also, A.C. Bradley wrote a famous essay on King Lear that should be read as well.

P.S. check out the cool and artistic cover which features a tree trunk splitting into three branches. Is it an allegory for the play? By golly, I think it is. That's Arden for you - quality cover to cover :)