Disney Books

This book was one of the reasons I decided as a fifth-grader in the 1960s to become a nuclear engineer. A year ago, while searching for a copy of the Disney film Our Friend the Atom, I bought a 1961 printing of this book. I had honestly forgotten just how well written it really is. For all of its naiveté - arguably just reflecting the naiveté of the times - Our Friend The Atom nevertheless proved that solid technical content can be presented in an attractive and, most importantly, understandable package. Forty years after its release, the mix of form and substance still holds up well.

I have since bought three additional copies (all different printings) for my collection of early atomic energy memorabilia, including a first printing. In these days when nuclear power seems a dying technology, Our Friend The Atom reminds me of the promise it once held.

I got this book for a Christmas present when I was about 8 or 9. I was interested in science at an early age and eagerly sought out popular accounts. This book was well illustrated in the Disney style and clearly written. I remember reading it from cover to cover in one sitting -- an re-reading it over and over again -- and being fascinated by the portraits of various scientists, the depiction of things and technologies related to the atomic world. One part stood out above all: the story of Avogadro's hypothesis that equal volumes of different gases contained indentical numbers of particles. For some reason, this absolutely fascinated me. Why should this hypothesis be true, and how could one possibly know it? I even tried to make up what I now recognize as kinetic theories to account for this -- of course, I didn't know any real physics so I was way beyond my depth.

I can really say that this book helped inspire me to go on to a scientific career. I recommend the book for children, and for anyone interested in a simple, popular account of the atomic world, and also a period piece representative of the '50's in America.

This book was as interesting as it is helpful. It had a few pointers in it that the others didn't. The post-it notes come in handy to mark the items to re-read or remember before you leave on your trip.

Hello! Please read the previous reviews with the knowledge that they were written for older editions of this book, written by different authors. I've lived next to WDW for ten years and this edition was rewritten to exclude any previous errors. I'd appreciate it if you'd judge this edition on its own merits. If you've read this edition, I'd appreciate your comments and reviews. Thanks!

I bought this one to go with my Walt Disney World Explorer First Edition and I love it. It shows you a lot about what Disney World is like. It also shows you some behind-the-scenes activities, plus games and quizzes, too. Except for the fact that they only show Animal Kingdom as 1 attraction, I would give it 5 stars. So for my advice, buy this game!

I love this version and the 2nd edition. Great for memories of Disney World. Disney NEEDS to update the cd/rom, because so much has changed since 1998.

I think everyone knows this story, and may have watched the movie, but reading this book is totally different! I have already seen the Disney Movie for this but it's not like this book. There are so much more little details in this book, and makes you wonder how on earth a person could've thought to write a story like this! I recommend anyone from any ages to read this book.

I think this book is great! The illustration is well based on movie. I like like the part when Alice was playing Croquet with the Queen of Hearts, and when Alice was drinking "Drink Me" bottle. When Alice was eating "Eat Me" cookies. Also I like the part when Alice fell down in the Rabit hole. I think this book is great and you should read this book about a girl in Wonderland!!!

I'm a huge Mary Blair fan so naturally I wanted to get this book of her work on Alice in Wonderland. The book arrived in a timely fashion and was in perfect condition. It's also a fantastic picture book for kids. Thank you!

Disney's Alice in Wonderland, as told through the gorgeous art work of Mary Blair, makes for one very spectacular book! Mary Blair (1911-1978) was one of Disney's most brilliant conceptual designers, who contributed in the creations of such great film classics as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Mary Blair gave Disney 34 years of her gorgeous and vivid art, which will always stand out through her use of unbelievably vivid colors and her impressionistic art form.
Mary not only helped design these characters for these Disney classics, but she brought her unique art style to other children's books, advertisements, theatrical set designs and theme park attractions. Mary Blair remains one of the most respected artists in the history of Disney animation, and this book showcases her talent! In this book, you can see the beginnings of the Disney characters of Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts. Mary's gorgeous impressionistic paintings of them show the forms that would take shape later on, in the film.
This book is the second of Disney's books showcasing the fantastic talents of Mary Blair. The first was published last year in 2007, Cinderella, and it is the most gorgeous treasure as well! I think you can still get this first edition here on Amazon from other dealers!
I am hoping Disney will publish Mary's art work that she did in creating the Peter Pan characters next year, so we will have all 3 of her major film contributions to Disney's characters in Alice, Cinderella and Peter Pan. For anyone who loves seeing the origins of the classic Disney characters in these early, gorgeous art forms, you will love this book on Alice in Wonderland by the unbelievably talented Mary Blair!

Without a doubt one of the finest film books that I have ever come upon! BAMBI: The Story And The Film by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas is a treat to both eye and the mind. Using sketches, drawings and paintings created during the course of the film's making, along with insightful text by two of Bambi's artists, this book is a work of art in its own right. This book, along with the latest BAMBI DVD, would provide anyone interested with an appreciation of this film unlike any college course could. If you love this film like I do, you will throughly enjoy this now out-of-print book. HIGHEST RATING!

Not as HOT as The Illusion of Life, but a MUST-HAVE anyway, this book gives a thorough insight into the making of one of the greatest animated feature films ever, by the animators of Bambi and Thumper...

Carl Barks is to little known in the US; in my homecountry of Sweden he is a minor deity on the other hand. Whole generations of Swedes have grown up reading his fantastic tales about Donald Duck, his nephews, Gyro Gearlose, and Scrooge McDuck.
Barks himself never understodd his own greatness. He thought that he only wrote dime-a-dozen stories for kids. Yet, once you are hooked on Barks you read him also as an adult - the genius is so obvious.
On the surface this is a simple adventure tale with comic interludes, but lurking beneath is fear and madness. This is perhaps his darkest tale. Set in an ancient Persian royal tomb. The cramped corridor, where the darkness waits just outside the circle of the torches gives a claustrophobic feel, which follows us throughout the story.
One moment the professor appears rational and sane, then he is revealed to be an insane megalomaniac. While the antics of the resurrected royal family are funny, there, again, are traces of hysteria and mental unbalance.
In the end they are so disgusted by the modern ways that they voluntarily seek oblivion in death. Donald Duck survives only by dying and being resurrected several times.
The tale is funny, but it also gives the impression that the artist had far darker things in mind when he wrote it: this was the fifties, we were living in fear of the atom bomb, and what else the scientists were dreaming up in their laboratories. The tunnels and darkness are our feeling of insecurity in a world bordering on war, and our helplessness to prevent it.

I Suspect many people will buy this because they already know the artist, as well as the story. Over the years since this, and many other stories by Barks, have appeared, they have come in many formats, of which the best is the COLLECTED WORKS OF CARL BARKS, and now this series, including this title, comes in a nicely done cover, with Library quality paper. I have copies of this in a previous incarnation of the GLADSTONE prints, prior to the Publishers going bust. Thankfully, someone has realised that these titles are being bought by Adults who could not afford the collected works, but who wanted a title done in a collectable format that would last. Way too many versions of this title published since the late 50's and again in the 70s have been done on poor quality paper, and were priced accordingly.
This Ancient Persia title works well in this comic format, however, some of the titles occurred originally in a strip format, and suffer when transferred to the comic page format. However, I managed to get some of these titles in a "hard" cover binding that preserved the strip ratio, without resorting to the comic page ratio that was edited with apparently little thought ( these editions in original strip format came out about 1982-84, and as far as I am aware are not currently available anywhere... so I hope someone can examine some of the original formats, and see what best goes back to the strip format).

Enjoy ANCIENT PERSIA, if you read the original story years ago, this will echo beautifully in your mind in this lovely high quality paper print edition.

This book's longest story, "Sheriff Of Bullet Valley," is a comedy of errors in which Donald takes a job as a wild west deputy, then mistakes the bad guys for good guys and decides that the sheriff must be a cattle rustler. Naturally, Huey, Dewey and Louie sort things out and save the day. This volume also features a short Daisy Duck story (yawn.) and a great space-age gem, in which Donald and Gladstone Gander race each other across the globe in super-fast rocket ships. Pure action, pure fun. This is a marvelously entertaining volume in this great reprint series, and features some of Carl Barks' finest work. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain children's book reviews)

We have purchased others of these Disney comics and the kids love them. Our son asked for this one and he was very happy to find it under the Christmas tree.

The Golden Helmet is a classic work. It's fun, its funny, its dramatic, and its packed with the typical set of funny references in Carl Barks work. In this edition you actually get five stories, including the main adventure, there are also two short stories and two one pagers. The Golden Helmet is well researched, and in the inside cover, you have a superb little mini-guide to the work.
The one element that please me, is that this edition deviates very little from the original strip format as published in a bound format in 1980-81; mostly unknown to current collectors, but known to collectors of my vintage, the bound versions are half way between the top of the line Collected Works of Carl Barks, and the edition in this case; all are good, but will be more tailored to/for different budgets. I just wish that the Collected works was out at a more accessible price.Whatever edition you get, or can get, if you are a Duck fan, you will love these beautifully crafted, and lovingly written works.
Whilst I love getting these editions, with superb quality paper, and it is good, qualifying for a library standard low acidity specification. The one production caveat is that the main inside comic tends to easily separate from the cover. It's not a major problem, but you will need to consult a collectors repairer for a basic fix, or check with a binder to get a more longer term solution.

Donald Duck works as a museum guard. He yearns for the adventures of the old vikings. Suddenly it is discovered that a golden helmet is buried somewhere on inhospitable eastern Canadian seaboard. Possesion of the helmet will make the holder the rightful lord of North America. Obviously, the bad guys are after it, so it is for the good guys to try and beat them to it. However, when they arrive after having fought the elements, time, and each other, they must face the most difficult task of all - their own secret desires. The true horror of the helmet is
while it does make the wearer the ruler of North America, it also makes the wearer insane... One buy one the brave fighters succumb to its lure, both the good and the bad, and they outline their weird vision of their new North America.
This is on the surface just a comic book for kids, but it has an epic format that makes it stand out. Both the drawings and storyline are more reminiscent of Prince Valiant than of pulp comics.
The underlying ideas of the story are that power corrupts, and that the helmet is in no ways magical - the insanity is part of all of us: "Hold up a mirror to your soul, and tell me what you see - if you dare..."

My boys love this book, this is actually our second copy. The first was warn out from reading it every night. This is a cute, quick version of the story with very bright colorful pictures.

I recently purchased this book for my friend's 3 year old daughter's birthday. I made it part of a "gift set" by putting it together with the Disney Peter Pan DVD and a Tinkerbell barbie doll (all through amazon.com). Needless to say, her 3 year old LOVED it and was flipping through the pages immediately. The book features great color illustration and everything she can identify from the movie. It's not too much writing, where a young child might lose interest, it's just right. And for the price, a cute and affordable add-on for any ocassion.