Bonds Books

I have the original issue of this graphic novel that was published by Titan in the 80s. Comparing the print quality of that edition with this latest one, I see one major problem:

The print quality was excellent in the first edition, while this edition seems to have been printed using an ink-jet printer from computer scanned JPEG images. On close scrutiny, the lines of the drawings look clean and crisp in the older edition, while they look jagged (as if made up of computer graphic pixels) in the new edition. This is a problem that I see repeated in the entire series of re-issued Bond strips from Titan in the 2000's. One more problem I see in all the Titan Bond series is that the ink is alternately very dark and very light in alternate pages in Colonel Sun, TSWLM, OHMSS & Goldfinger. Very annoying.

That having been said, the paper quality, cover thickness and binding are excellent.

One piece of good news is that this edition of TSWLM now includes panel #721 which was omitted from the 1989 version, because Titan did not want to include an extra page for just one panel.

The stories themselves are excellent in every manner and drawn to realistic perfection by Larry Horak. Jim Lawrence's adaptation of the Fleming Material is superb as always.

The Titan Bond series is a must-have for Bond fans and comic book enthusiasts. Highly recommended.

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME is a wonderful graphic novel. If it was 100% full of Ian Fleming stories, it might warrant 5 stars. Still, it's a worthy purchase.

What's neat is, besides the original non-Fleming story, it does have one story based on the Bond author's original novel of the same name ("The Spy Who Loved Me"). Better yet, since the original was not really a Bondian adventure, the graphic novel brackets it with a very sensible new story that is very much about 007. Fleming's original remains in tact smack dab in the middle of the newer one. It's all done very well.

Too bad Ian Fleming didn't live to write many more Bond novels than he did. However, the ones he wrote were - smashing!

The Spy Who Loved Me ran from late 1967 to 1968 in strip format and is re-printed here for the very first time. One of the most popular Bond Girls, Caroline Munro provides the introduction to this volume which also includes the first post-Ian Fleming Bond strip, "The Harpies".

In the "Spy Who Love Me", a Canadian Test Pilot is the target of a blackmail scheme. He's demanded to turn over secrets about a new experiment test plane called the GhostHawk. If he refuses to cooperate, his blackmailers will turn over evidence to French law authorities linking him to the death of a woman. Bond is called to investigate. The pilot, Mike Farrar, admits he was there when the girl died, but that her death was an accident and he fled when he got scared. Bond's investigations lead him to believe that the terrorist group S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is behind the blackmail plot.

This story is a bit slower paced than other Bond stories and not as action oriented as some might like but as always the art by Yaroslav Horak is op notch and has that great, 60's spy look to it. The better story to me was "The Harpies" that had a spectacular plot more in tune with the Bond films. A brilliant Dr. Phineus develops a death ray but says it should be destroyed. A wealthy aeronautics industrialist named Nero kidnaps Phineus to obtain the ray. Bond goes undercover as the new chief of security in Nero's plant to rescue the doctor. This story was much more briskly paced with a great, megalomaniacal villain in Nero, beautiful women, and lots of action.

The Harpies is seeing print for the first time in almost 40 years, having originally run in British newspapers from October 1968 to June 1969. Writer Jim Lawrence here shows he's capable of working within Flemings framework, but also crafting an intriguing storyline. Horak provides the beautiful art once again. For those who have never read the Bond strips, these collections from Titan Books are wonderful and preserve what otherwise may have been completely forgotten.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This second book of the crown and covenant trilogy is full of suspense, action, and discernment.It is about a young archer named Angus M'kethe. Angus prefers the bow over any weapon because of its stealth, speed, and the ability to reload quickly. Douglas Bond brings these characters together perfectly in this book about the life and choices of Angus who will have to listen to his fathers instructions to love your enemy and fight at the battle of Drumclog for the covenant.

It has been a long time since I read this book. Let us hope I remember enough about it to make a decent review.

I would hazard a guess that many of the readers of this review are homeschooling mothers with teenage children very much like me. As a 14 year-old homeschooler myself, I feel qualified to give you some feedback.

The main gist of the book concerns Angus M'Keith, younger brother of Duncan M'Keith, who was the hero of the previous work (Which would be helpful to read first, but not, if I remember aright, absolutely essential). He finds himself in the midst of Catholic persecution from the English persecutors of the Scottish Presbyterians. Throughout it all his faith is tested as he follows his father and brother through harrowing adventures.

From a purely literary standpoint, these books are not brilliant. They will not be compared to Dostoyevsky or Austen in future years (not that many books can claim the honor of being their equals as it is!). Nevertheless, nothing stands out as achingly bad prose; Douglas Bond is a solid enough writer.

From a purely theological standpoint, these books are quite good. The main issues it deals with are keeping one's faith under persecution, and under what circumstances it is right to kill your enemies. It is solidly Christian all throughout, and is a book your lads--and perhaps even some of your lasses--will most likely enjoy.

We started reading Duncan's War by Douglas Bond together as a family sometime during the fall. We became so excited about the story that we had to put the children under strict orders not to touch the book during the day, but they had to wait until family reading hour. "No Peeking!" was the command they would hear when their hand would reach slyly for the book on the end table.

Duncan's War is followed by The King's Arrow and then finally Rebel's Keep. This series, called the Crown and Covenant, follows the lives of the M'Kethe family during 17th Century Scotland as they endured brutal persecution at the hand of King James and King Charles. Those that remained loyal to King Jesus called themselves the Scottish Covenanters. This is the story of those who must wrestle with honoring God and applying His word while living amidst a government that is trying to obliterate Christianity.

As a reader, I was particularly struck with what I would do if I were in this situation with my own family. While reading these stories, I had to grapple with the scriptures as I put myself in their shoes. As a father and a Christian, I want to honor God and obey His word above all else. And yet I desire desperately to protect my children from all outside harm. In the story, the children watch their father's actions as he attempts to obey King Jesus above all others, and while they do not fully understand them at the time, they come to appreciate them more fully later as they grow and mature. The father never compromises his integrity in the midst of war. He clearly keeps the perspective that this life on earth is not the only one we live for. There is one to come. How we live and die here will show Whom it is we honor. This is how I want to live. I want to set a strong example for my children as I live out God's word even during difficult times. While reading these stories, I was struck once again that how we live in this life has implications in the next. We are to live for the Audience of One.

Have you ever fallen in love with a story and just couldn't get enough of it, well kizuna does that for me. It is a love story between two men and all the difficulties that they face in their daily lives. From a clever, boyfriend seducing half brother to dealings with the yakuza, it is the best yaoi series that you could read outside Gravitation and FAKE. BE WARE THOUGH. NOT FOR THE YOUNG. It has graphic scenes that many might not be comfortable with. ENJOY AND HAVE FUN.

In this installment, sadly, there is none of that pure smut from the first book. I give you that. However, Kazuma Kodaka introduces a few new characters (rawr) and a plot by a rival yakuza group to take out the Sagano family, including Kai.

Of course Kei, with his newly found brotherly affection, manages to get himself involved, much to Ranmaru's distress.

It's a cliffhanger, along with the next couple books in the series. It's not as hardcore as the first books, but lots of plot and a surprising turn of events later on. I'd definitely recommend that you keep going in the series.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series. I wasn't that impressed with 2 and 3. They were okay. I thought by the time I get to four the story should be back in full swing. It's taking a while but I think the story is going to heat up again(not in this volume) I have already read 5 and it ended with a great cliffhanger. I now can't wait to get 6. All in all I say the only reason to read this volume is because it's a part of the series and it sets up some action for 5. Don't expect much action as far as the relationships in 4 or 5. Maybe we'll get some in 6. Could someone let me know?!?!

Ranmaru and Kei are still nice to look at no matter what's going on around them.

Most people take for granted the calculations used to generate a yield, duration and other fixed income statistic. These values are, more often than not, taken as being absolutes by the people who should most know that they are not always absolute and that yields in one market sector are not always comparable to yields in other market sectors. This book, a long anticipated follow-up to "Money Market Calculations" codifies in a succinct manner the basic conventions used to calculate bond numbers for various market sectors. While the book is certainly not a page-turner, it is a very important reference that should be found on every buy and sell-side trading desk.

I really like the way the fundamentals of valuation are derived from first principle's. It gives a very good presentation of where the assumptions are made. It is extremely important to understand the assumptions if you really want to know what the results do and do not tell you.

That said, there are several typo's and mathematical errors that really need to be corrected - such as the inverted numerator and denominator in the Newton-Raphson equation presented.

I found this is the excellent book for anyone to understand bond yielding calculation. Whether you are experienced bond market player, or just beginner, you can always find something useful in the book. I would rate this book 4 stars.

Imagine that Miss Moneypenny of James Bond fame was a real person, as was Bond himself and that all the Bond adventures were based on fact. Astonding right? Now imagine that your quiet aunt Jane, was in fact Moneypenny and not the just the career civil servant you had always thought. This is the premise of the series (three books to date) of novels drawn from the secret diaries kept by Moneypenny and delivered ten years after her death to her niece, Kate, a Cambridge lecturer.

Kate has decided that the diaries should be brought to the public's attention to reveal what really happened behind the scenes of some of the most significant events of the late twentieth century. She has chosed to release the volumes, one year at a time with the events and people depicted therein properly documented and footnoted in a scholarly manner. The year she has decided to begin with is 1962, the year of the Cuban Missle Crisis and the year Bond was married and left a widower in a few hours time. Through Moneypenny's diaries we are returned to London of the swinging sixties, into the shadowy secret realm of MI6 to meet the real M, see the shiny new gadgets developed by Q and learn there is more, much more to the efficient Moneypenny than we had ever guessed.

This is a delightful take on the Bond saga. The author manages to remain true to the original stories and characters while intruducing new threads into the Bond universe. Soon the reader is caught up into the on going questions of what really had happened to Moneypenny's father during the waning days of WWII, to whether or not she could really trust her enigmatic 'R', who the mole in MI6 really was and whether or not Bond ever did keep that long promised dinner date. Hopefully more will be revealed in the next installment of Moneypenny's secret diaries.

The Moneypenny Diaries is the first in a trilogy of books by Samantha Weinberg (a.k.a. Kate Westbrook) chronicling the heretofore untold adventures of M's popular personal secretary. Until now, Miss Moneypenny has only been a figure behind a desk with a particular fascination for an agent with the number 007. But now she has a first name (Jane), a rich past (colonial Africa), and quite a few "Bondian" tales to tell of her own. The Moneypenny Diaries also reveal exactly what happened to 007 during those dark days between the books 'On Her Majesty's Secrete Service' and 'You Only Live Twice.' We even get to see Bond and Moneypenny join forces and play a major role in the real-life Cuban Missile Crisis!

I've now read the entire series (via the already released UK editions) and I highly recommend getting this excellent first book and getting hooked. It is a VERY good series and a must for Bond fans. Fans of the films might be a bit surprised to see their super agent in such a poor mental state after the murder of his wife, Tracy...but that's what makes the Bond books such a different (and, IMO, a far more rich) experience. The Moneypenny Diaries is a great way to start that experience.

I thought this book would be full of laughs and "behind-the-scenes" giggles at the expense of Bond (all in good fun, of course). It isn't, not at all, but it is, nonetheless a really good book! It is well written, with details that correspond to the Ian Fleming series, and even to Ian Fleming himself. I look forward to the next in the series.

The book provides a very complete overview the residential mortgage-backed securities market and is written by two gentlemen that were arguably at "the center of the storm" at Countrywide Securities.

The book is structured nicely taking the reader from a general overview of the MBS market to a detailed look of the process of securitization through to investing in the end securities.

The chapters dedicated to the structuring and credit enhancement techniques of residential ABS deals a particularly useful to people just entering the current market. The unique perspectives on measuring loan performance and influences on collateral prepayments are also very useful reading.

All in all a must read for those beginning in the industry and a great reference for those of us that might have forgotten a few things.

This book can be used either as a reference for specific technical securities questions or for generic background reading on a related topic. Many people in our office find it very useful and it always seems to disappear from my desk. A must have five star book!

If you are a securities analyst wanting to understand recent innovations in financial instruments, Fabozii's topic can be very germane. He describes the myriad ways that bundling together mortgages can produce, in terms of cash flow and risk. Naturally, the book delves heavily into how well both can be modelled.

Specifically, there is a key section on how to measure prepayments and defaults. Both act against the "ideal" nature of a given instrument. Where ideal means that all debtholders will repay the debts in full and on the regular predicated schedule. We see different measures of delinquency - for example - current, 30 days delinquent, 60 days delinquent, and 90+ days delinquent. This is one very common classification, used by the US Office of Thrift Supervision. Other groups has similar measures.

Much other space in the book explains how the cash flow can be divided into tranches. Different ones based on differing yields and risk.

A cynical reader might surmise that the implementation of ideas like those in the book have contributed to the recent turmoil in the mortgage industry. Aiding and abetting.

Since my daughter has just become engaged, I wanted to find a fun book to ease some of the stress that goes along with planning a wedding. Although not everything was applicable to our situation, it was still a fun read and definitely made me laugh. I gave it to my daughter after I read it and she felt the same way. It's a cute book and just enlightens all the moms and daughters out there that are going through this happy, but sometimes daunting experience, that we share a common bond. We just have to keep remembering that this is a happy time and to enjoy every moment because before you know it it's over!

If laughter is the best the medicine, then this book is the perfect presciption for the anxious bride or mother of the bride. I found myself chuckling outloud several times as the bride describes the joy and angst of wedding planning. The mother and daughter relationship is so real I felt like I was a fly on the wall living vicariously through their experiences. The happy ending makes this book the perfect engagement or wedding shower gift-- a must read for every bride-to-be!

Once I started reading this book, I just couldn't put it down. A humorous and heartwarming account of how a bride-to-be and her mother face the many challenges of planning the absolute perfect wedding. Well written and easy to follow. A must read for every mother and daughter!

Very well researched and well written. It lacks only one thing. It needs a glossary for those of us unfamiliar with all of the terms specific to the financial industry. Like any technical book, if it is to garner a wider readership it must have a glossary. I had to read it with a dictionary at my side.

JHCARLISLE

This is a FASCINATING book about a business, institution, and people who have been a driving force in the commodities business. It is very well written, capturing the trust and intelligence of those who have contributed to this unique market.

Arlene Bronstein's brilliant descriptions of the Chicago Board of Trade is insightful. The research of over 20 members and information that went into the book is intelligent and is an accurate account about what took place inside the board of trade.

It also gave me the opportunity to discover all the different experiences that real members had and the thought process behind the hallmarks of the exchange.

This is my favorite book of 2008 and a must read for someone that likes to hear about brilliant people's real decisions and thoughts as it relates to business, finance and relationships.

What more could someone ask for? Adventure, incredible scenery, a posh life, international intrigue, a demonic foe and, of course, love. This time it's the real thing for Bond, but as anyone who knows this genre well, it is only fleeting passions. After all, how could a married man carry on like we all expect (and hope) he does.

SPECTRE is back again, Blofield as evil as ever. After all the trials trials and tribulations, the final victory is sweet. This of course makes the ending all the more shocking and at the same time, "right". The look on Connery's face in the movie was priceless.

The last really good Bond novel, and one which sees Bond go into previously uncharted territory like the aisle and even `M''s home.

The plot centres around a plan by Bond's old adversary from `Thunderball' (1961), Ernst Stavro Blofeld, to cripple Britain financially by ruining her agriculture and food industry with biological warfare. Under the guise of an expert in family trees, Bond is able to infiltrate Blofeld's secret operation in the Swiss Alps, to try to put an end to his dastardly plans.

Interestingly, the novel opens with James Bond visiting the scene of the first Bond novel, Royale-les-Eaux, and he treads over familiar ground in the shape of the French coastal towns casino. It is a strangely ironic place in which to meet the love of his life (Tracy) as it also contains the grave of a woman (Vesper Lynd) who caused him the most anguish.

A well written, fast paced thriller, it is packed with exciting action, worthy villains, humourous incidents, good food and the compulsory love interest. The love interest in this novel is one `Tracy' de Vicenzo who Bond rescues from disgrace and death and ends up falling in love with and marrying. Under normal circumstances the fact that she is the daughter of the `Capu' of the Corsican mafia would complicate things somewhat but in this novel it is a positive boon for Bond and one which he takes full advantage of.

The villain is top notch. In Ernst Stavro Blofeld we have a man to really dislike; cold and calculating, he literally oozes malevolence. He has no redeeming features whatsoever and the choice of Irma Bunt as his assistant only helps the reader wish even more for Bond to succeed in his mission.
If Blofeld does have a weakness, it appears to be that he covets the respectability and status that a title would give him, and this proves to be a significant failing on his part.

Exciting ski, car and bobsleigh rides, added to the ingenious plot and unusual location gives one the feeling that this Bond novel was, in a lot of ways, Flemings last classic Bond adventure. Following this novel we had the frankly bizarre `You Only Live Twice' (1964) and `The Man With The Golden Gun' (1965) which wasn't all Fleming's work. `On Her Majesty's Secret Service' (a phrase coined by Tracy's father, the likeable Capu, Marc-Ange) is a book that it is hard to put down and in the final analysis that is what all good novels have in common.

The book does have a very sad end and the reader should really follow it by reading `You Only Live Twice' as it more or less follows on from this novel and sees Bond getting his revenge on Blofeld.

This is probably Ian Fleming's most interesting and personal James Bond novel. This book precedes "You Only Live Twice" as it sends James Bond on a mission to track down the head of SPECTRE. This is a very well written novel and is very interesting trying to fathom what Fleming had been contemplating for his hero at that time in his life. I found this absorbing novel very difficult to put down once I started reading it as I did with its follow-up. If you do decide to read it I recommend that you read it before "You Only Live Twice." I will go one step further, if you read both of these novels then read "The Man with the Golden Gun" after you finish "You Only Live Twice." These three novels make up a sort of trilogy. One hint: "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is very close to the movie version. "You Only Live Twice" and "The Man with the Golden Gun" movies have very little at all to do with the Fleming novels in any direct sense of plot and conflict. So don't be discouraged. I have read these three novels several times over. In this novel the relationship between Bond and M becomes clearer while Bond's own convictions come under self-scrutiny. Is there a line between duty and honor?

Easy to follow, introductory guide. As the title suggests, this is a beginner's guide so there are no complex equations or other involved mathematics. Basic concepts are explained in a clear way with good examples to illustrate mechanics.

i found this book very well written. It provides detail and yet covers that what it says it does. I find that Wiseman explains concepts in a verystraight forward way. Although i had to pause to eat and think about some of the financial products discussed such as "par yields". I found I was able to understand the book. The book contains some of the trader jargon and a outline of the players involved in the market. I think that anyone who wants to something with securities or trading should read this, before/during/after an intership. As the english say "Wiseman" is the dogs ballocks!! get this book!

Extremely readable. One could read this book in a single sitting and get a great jumpstart to an understanding of fixed income markets - the why and the how.

Wiseman has an engaging style of writing which prevents the stifled yawns normally associated with reading this genre, and keeps one turning the pages...

The book nicely covers the fundamental theory of why there exists a fixed income market, then turns to the players and discusses what they do, and finally covers some of the fundamental trading strategies and math employed to turn a buck.

Nice one...