Bonds Books

It almost seems as if Larry Bond had a crystal ball to gaze into when he wrote this thriller. The story, written in 1996, deals with a terrorist group, directly sponsored by a Middle Eastern nation, launching a series of attacks on U.S. soil. After the tragic events of 9/11/2001, the plot seems all too realistic.

The story follows the lives of two peolpe, brought together by a series of terrorist attacks. Col. Peter Thorn is a formr Delta Force commander, now an anti-terrorism expert in the Pentagon. Special Agent Helen Grey is head of one of the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Teams. Together, they hunt for answers before terrorists tear our country apart.

Most of Larry Bond's novels deal with large-scale conflicts in places like Korea and souhern Africa. This story, because of a more narrow focus, really draws you into the characters. Because of his excellent ability to make the characters seem real, this is my favorite of Larry Bond's novels. His style has evolved into one distinctly his, although I still rank him right up with Tom Clancy. This book is a real page-turner. I read it in three nights. It's definitely worth adding to your library.

I would have given this book at least 4 stars but Mr. Bond's inclusion of a unnecessary romance with the female HRT leader brought it down by 2. The romance angle was shallow, unnecesarry and only there to appease the mentally deficient of his readers. Look at his previous 3 books, excellent books with no Harlequin romance crap dropped in for filler.

I am very disappointed, this book could have been great.

Tom Clancy is one of my favorite authors. How did I not know about Larry Bond?!! This is the first I have read by him and I literally just finished it a few minutes ago. What a great read!! Chilling, though, and as I said, prophetic. Either that or the warning signs for 9-11 were all too apparent before the attacks. Some of the terrorist attacks described in the book were downright scary (to me). How truly easy it would be to perform some of those acts and then blend into the woodwork! How close we are to an all-out race-related civil war. We exist is some degree of believed safety and yet, how little it would/could take to turn out world around completely. I look forward to his other books (which I hope to get-some-for Christmas. :) )

AFTER WHAT HAPPEND ON SEPTEMBER I WOULD BET A LOT OF READERS ARE LOOKING FOR A BOOK THAT WOULD BE DESCRIBED ABOUT WHAT COULD HAPPEND NEXT OR JUST LOOKING FOR A TERRIFFIC BOOK TO READ. LOOK NO FURTHER THIS IS THE BOOK TO BUY AND READ! BOND HITS THIS FICTIONAL STORY SO REAL THAT I HAVE TO KEEP ASKING HOW COULD THIS BE FICTION? I JUST DO NOT UNDERSTAND. A TREMENDOUS BOOK.

Clancy has his hands full when anything comes out by Bond. The Enemy Within is just a great book to grab, buy and read! Un-down-putable! Its the only way to describe all of his books. If you are a reader and haven't read any books by Larry Bond. DO IT and see why!

I've always been a little weary of novelizations. Usually they're poorly written with little to add to the film, TV show, or whatever they are adapted from. The Bond films are much the same (John Gardner's adaptations of Licence To Kill and Goldeneye for example). Yet with the novelization of Tomorrow Never Dies, Raymond Benson does something almost extraordinary. He manages to take the film and make it seem like a genuine Bond book adventure.

The Bond of the book is much the same as the Bond of the original literary novels written by Benson, meaning that it's pretty much Brosnan as Bond in both the novel and film. Yet Benson manages to keep the human elements of the character alive as well especially in the few brief scenes with Paris Carver. But as always, Benson's 007 is best in action and it is this part of the character that Benson really taps into with no problem.

The rest of the characters are really well fleshed out and put their film counterparts to shame big time. We learn of the sinister rise to power of Elliot Carver which makes for one of the most chilling chapters I have ever read in a Bond novel. Plus Carver seems to be less of the film's super villian and more like a real, albeit evil, person. The same can be said of the Stamper character as well even though he is still at heart nothing more then a stereotype.

The two other characters that are fleshed out are the two Bond girls. Wai Lin is given a whole chapter dedicated to her mission that led her to the party in Hamburg. She comes across less as a female version of Bond (being almost too tough for a Bond girl) as seen in the film and more as a real person. The background we are given on Paris helps out with her character as well. Even though she appears in even less here then in the final film she is a much better character here.

The story also reads a lot better. Benson was obviously working from an earlier version of the script and from what is in the novel it is a shame that the filmmakers didn't stick to this one. Because let me tell you it's a much different story here. Not that the sequence of events is much different. But the nature of Carver's plan is much different and a lot more realistic then the one in the film. In fact considering the world today, the plan as seen in the book is chilling to say the least.

As for much of the content, those of you familiar with the Benson 007 novels will have much to like about this. If you aren't then this is a book you should read to see how good Tomorrow Never Dies should have been. This might be the one time a novelization has actually been better then the actual film.

Review

Raymond Benson's novelization of the eighteenth Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies is an absolute must-read for those avid Bond fans. In this non-stop action novel, Mr. Benson admirably adds all the excitement of the movie in addition to in-depth character development and enlightenments of aspects of the movie that all Bond fans can appreciate.

Mr. Benson has done a wonderful job of reviewing the Bond film in depth and for those readers who have seen the movie, the story is such that it was still "hot off the presses" - an analogy appropriate to the storyline. Another quality, I enjoyed in this novelization was how Mr. Benson has implemented his own artistic licence in quite a few areas of the storyline. For instance, the sequence of events between those at Saigon and those aboard the stealth boat are elaborated on, filling the slight gap that was present in the movie.

In addition to the preceding novelization features, I believe that Mr. Benson should also be recognized for his intricate attention to detail and alluring descriptions of the setting. One thing is for certain - Raymond Benson means a good quality read!

Plot

A British naval frigate, the H.M.S. Devonshire, sinks off of the coast of China under mysterious circumstances and an international media mogul, Elliot Carver, sways the British into believing that the Chinese are responsible for the vessel's fate. With military plights arising between Britain and China, the head of M-I6 Intelligence, `M,' sends her most capable agent, James Bond 007, to investigate the sinking within a forty-eight hour time frame. Bond's investigation leads him to Hamburg, Germany where he meets up with a former girlfriend, and recovers a device that could be responsible for the hostilities. Proceeding to Saigon, Bond allies with a beautiful Chinese agent, Wai Lin and discovers who is clearly the adversary in this incident... and it's not the Chinese. The only question is, will Bond be able to stop him before World War III begins?

Conclusion

Raymond Benson's novelization of Tomorrow Never Dies is an outstanding read, and perfect for those who like a good action/mystery movie. This novel has inspired me to read Mr. Benson's very own original James Bond novel, "Zero Minus Ten," which is another example of this author's talent. An excellent job, Raymond! A+.

Tomorrow Never Dies was the first James Bond movie I ever saw, and I've seen it a few million times now, so I know the plot back and forth. Benson's novelization, while based on the screenplay, is so much better in many ways. One is that he added in a lot. Another is that he tells what the characters are thinking (a third-person omniscient instead of a third-person narrative), and he explains everything, like why Elliot Carver is evil, and even a bit about Bond as a schoolboy. All in all, great book. I also liked how he explains all the gear and weapons.

This was a very good book and Benson did a wonderful job of explaining things and it is just like the movie.

I loved the movie so I wanted to check out the book. The book was very hard to follow. The action was good but the whole time I was reading I had no clue what was going on. I didn't finish the book because it was too confusing. It had a lot more than the movie did but I still think it's not worth buying but if you really want to read it i strongly reccomed checking it out from the library.

Today the phrase "securities fraud" evokes Enron, WorldCom and Tyco. Two decades ago, it evoked Drexel Burnham Lambert, the investment bank that ruled the junk-bond realm and helped fund some of the most audacious corporate takeovers of the 1980s. Enthroned at the center of Drexel Burnham was the king of junk, Michael Milken. Was he a financial genius who found ever more clever ways to make markets more efficient? Or was he a swindler running the world's biggest Ponzi scheme? New Yorker writer Connie Bruck sets out to answer those questions in this cautionary tale of Drexel's rise and fall. getAbstract recommends this fascinating, highly detailed financial history. However, the flaw in Bruck's narrative is the absence of a third act: She inexplicably ends the book before Milken's trial and sentencing. While its ending is weak, this provocative story makes one thing clear: Uneasy lies the head that wears a leveraged crown.

I Love this Book and the Brass ones it took to actually write it!
Magic Mike was brilliant! Not so legal, but a genius!
And "The Predator's Ball", was a just a Very expensive weekend party in a bungalow at The Hotel California!
Great story, too bad it will never be a movie!

Highly regarded as one of the finest pieces of business investigative journalism written, Connie Bruck's groundbreaking work on the subject of junk bonds and corporate financing was written during a time when the business press universally admired Drexel Burnham for their ability to turn junk into gold.

You will find this book quite entertaining and comprehensible. A smooth read not filled with too much industry jargon, its nomenclature friendly enough even for the beginner. It highlights the bright sides as well as the dark sides of the critically acclaimed Junk-bond king Michael Milken and allows each of us to have his or her own view on Milken and Drexel Burnham's underlying philosophy.

Although the book does lean heavily towards Milken having a me first attitude, it does manage to pin down a few important business lessons underscored by him that cannot be overlooked. You will not waste any time reading this piece. You will definitely be on the winning side by reading this book.

This book will definitely generate scores of topics to discuss and debate about the philosophies of American business that dominated Wall Street in the 1980s. This future classic highlights many corporate raiders that are still vehemently visible today. Just to name a few: players like Carl Icahn, Nelson Peltz, Ron Perelman, T. Boone Pickens and a host of others.

A definite must read for those interested in banking, financial history, and especially for business students.

Connie Bruck tells the tale of the rise of Drexel Burnham, Michael Milken, and the modern day junk bond market, from the early beginning all the way up to the end.

The Predators Ball is a great bit of investigative writing. The dramatic events really keep you hooked, although at some points the level of detail requires hunkering down for the long haul. Overall, recommended for any Street junkie or anyone interested in Drexel Burnham and Michael Milken.

This book is a great reference point to many of the activities that occurred in the 1980s and how those events impact Wall Street and the financial markets today. While not as well written as other books in the genre, it makes an emphasis of using facts as opposed to circumstantial evidence presented as facts (which many similar books such as "Den of Thieves" and "Barbarians at the Gate" use) and that makes this book a cut above the rest.

You gotta have this if you are studying financials and investments.

The definitions are clear despite the tedious nature of some sections of the book.

I've been in banking for over 12 years and I still run into words and phrases that are sometimes unfamiliar to me. This book has been a handy tool on my desk--colleagues have come by to use it. If you work in banking or finance, or are a student majoring in similar fields, I would suggest that you make this essential to your portfolio of tools that you use.

Great Dictionary with all the financial/investment terms and abreviations.
The book has become my table-book.
Got confused with wording??? It just takes second to get the full definition.

A++++ RECOMEND!!!

This is the best reference for the securities industry. I am new to the industry but in a high level position. This is the book that our Complance officer is using to bring me up to speed on terminology and concepts. Better than a textbook. Just remember that it is basically a dictionary -NOT a textbook - so if you need a textbook I would suggest getting this as a supplement to it.

It helped me on several occasions. There are, however, terms that are not defined, so I need to refer to the internet for those. Overall, a good deal....

Even though Dr. No was dreadfully intolerant by today's standards, had next to no real plot, and neglected to include any substantial characterization, I couldn't put it down.

James Bond is confident, capable, cocky, rather sexist, and perhaps even racist in Dr. No, but the prose is written at such a fast pace, Fleming concocted such a ludicrous villain in Dr. No, and Bond prevailed in such "manly" manners, it's hard not to get engrossed in it all.

Dr. No is a brisk, leisurely read that entertains and quickens the pulse. I didn't find Fleming's writing style terribly adept, but the man knew how to hook a reader, and in the end, some would say that's all that matters.

~Scott William Foley, author of The Imagination's Provocation: Volume II: A Collection of Short Stories

If you can get past the parts of the story about the pink spoonbills, or whatever those birds are called, you will see that Doctor No is one of the best novels in the Fleming series. The story starts off slow, but really picks up when Bond arrives on Crab Key. This is just full of adventure, great dialogue and Bond goes through one of his worst beatings in the last chapters of the novel. If you enjoyed the movie, then you will definitely like this 100 times more since it expands and tells more than the movie does, even going into why his name is Doctor No (which isn't his birth name). This is just a really good book that you won't be able to put down once the real action gets started, just be warned that there is a slow beginning.

Although Dr. No is the sixth book in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, it is also a first in a few key ways. From a cinematic standpoint, Dr. No was the first James Bond book adapted into a movie (with only a crude TV version of Casino Royale preceding it). In addition, it is the first of the Bond novels to feature the villain as a title character (to be followed by Goldfinger and The Man With the Golden Gun). Most significantly, perhaps, is that Dr. No is the first novel to feature the truly megalomanical villain; only Hugo Drax, in Moonraker, comes close, and even his ambitions fit more in the category of violent than power-hungry.

As Dr. No begins, John Strangways, Britain's man in Jamaica is killed along with his female assistant. With no bodies found, it is assumed the two ran away on a lover's tryst. In England, Bond is recovering from a near-death experience (which occurred at the conclusion of From Russia With Love). M, uncertain if Bond is up to full strength, assigns him to look into the disappearance, figuring that it will be more of a vacation than a real job. Bond is insulted, but takes on the assignment.

Bond, who last met Strangways in Live and Let Die, suspects the worst, a feeling that intensifies when people start following him and attempting to kill him. The only suspect is the mysterious Dr. No, a Chinese-German who owns most of Crab Key, an island around thirty miles from Jamaica. Before Strangways died, he had been investigating claims that Dr. No was disrupting a bird sanctuary. With the assistance of the local Quarrel (also last seen in Live and Let Die), Bond decides to sneak onto Crab Key for a closer look.

Once they get to the island, they encounter the beautiful shell-seeker Honey Rider (what would a Bond book be without a beautiful woman, usually psychologically scarred and in need of meeting the right man?); Honey will accidentally alert the guards of their presence, eventually leading to capture by Dr. No. Julius No is the epitome of a Bond villain: clever, resourceful, merciless and sadistic. Dr. No wants to have his own little kingdom and he isn't about to let Bond get in his way. Of course, he will carefully describe all his plans before leaving Bond in a deadly trap.

Yes, it is a little over-the-top and has its share of traits that would eventually become cliches of the genre, but for what it intends to be - a straightforward and simple adventure story - it succeeds well. Following on the heels of what is perhaps the best Bond book - From Russia With Love - Dr. No is Fleming continuing to be at the top of his writing game.

An Asian supervillain, this time. At the end of From Russia, With Love, Bond had been poisoned and fighting for his life. With some first aid from a friend, M has time to call in some specialists to help save his life.

He is sent to recover in Jamaica, and look into why one of their agents, whom he met in Live and Let Die, has vanished.

He meets a blonde babe beachcomber, and also Quarrel, again. They discover Dr. No is working for the Soviets to cause problems for the US military and their missiles.

Years ago when I first read Ian Fleming's Doctor No, I loved it. Having read it again recently, I think it is still one of the best Bond stories. The characters are unforgettable - Bond's trusty companion Quarrel, the beautiful Honey Rider, and the nefarious Doctor No. The tale has a great Caribbean setting and possibly the best challenge for Bond to face, i.e., the obstacle tunnel designed by Doctor No so he can test the endurance of the human species. This is a Bond story that you should certainly not miss.

Silverfin is just what the doctor ordered if you are looking for a book to interest tween readers - especially boys. The story is exciting and action packed, without being over the top. It was a great read for my 10 year old son and his friends - they read it in a Literature Circle Group at school and immediately begin clamoring for the sequel. We are looking forward to many more adventures from Young James Bond.

"The last thing he saw before he sank back into the black depths of the water was the man's face; only it wasn't a man's face . . . it was an eel's face, a nightmarish face -- chinless, with smooth, gray, utterly hairless skin pulled tight across it, and fat, blubbery lips that stretched almost all the way back to where the ears should be. The front of the face was deformed, pushed forward, so that the nose was hideously flattened, with splayed nostrils and bulging eyes forced so wide apart that they didn't look in any way human. The ghastly thick lips parted and a wet belching hiss erupted. Then the waters closed over the boy and he knew nothing more."

Alfie Kelly, a local boy from a Scottish town, goes missing under mysterious circumstances and people wonder what happened to him. He was going fishing alone and he was never seen again. I mainly read this book because I am a fan of James bond and I thought reading a prequel to his 007 years would be interesting. The plot turned out to be very interesting and original.

Young James Bond is on vacation from Eton, his boarding school, and James hears about Alfie Kelly's disappearance. James of course finds the whole situation entirely suspicious and in true Bond style decides o investigate. James Bond's character is captured as a restless boy who hates rules and restrictions but follows them when he has to. The character of Bond's aunt explains how James was raised to be so world-wise.

My favorite part of this book is something that would reveal the plot so I'll tell my second favorite part. It is when James' uncle Max tells him how a car works and teaches him how to drive. Because James learned to drive so early in life, that might explain why he is such a skillful driver when he is older. The theme of this book, besides seeing what Bond was like as a kid, is that you can't cheat life; money and drugs can't make your life better.

Any fan of James Bond should read this book because although its sad to say, the storyline is better than some of the Bond movies. Also if you have read any of the Alex Rider Adventures by Anthony Horowitz or if you just like action thrillers or mysteries then this book is for you. There could have been a little more action and blood-chilling suspense but overall, this book was very well written.

Young Bond: SilverFin, by Charlie Higson is an action-packed look back to the early days of James Bond.

James starts out at a new boarding school at the age of 13. He quickly makes a couple good friends, but has his share of bullies. When he goes home for break, James and another boy decide to investigate a missing boy from the area. But the missing boy seems to have disappeared on the land of one James' meanest schoolmates.

While the story is written for youth, it's a fast-paced thriller with fun characters and evil bad guys. A few times during the book, science and technology is explained in detail, so it could be considered almost educational as well.

James hasn't become a spy yet, but this is a fun look at his early years and what helped shape him into the man he will become.

Matt Dahlberg
SilverFin
By: Charlie Higson
ISBN:078683866-3

Let The Games Begin

Let The Games Begin
"You boy!"
"Yes sir."
"What's your name?"
"Bond, James Bond"

This action story begins with a boy named James. He is new at Eton, he starts making friends and keeping up with the curriculum. Unfortunately he makes a very bad enemy. Lord Helllebore practically owns the school. So when he has an idea to promote his son George, he does it in a big way. So Hellebore has a competition. James spoils George's chances of winning when James's wins the cross-country competition. On James's trip to visit his aunt he finds Hellebore and gets caught along in a mystery involving a small disappearance of a boy.

I liked this book for several reasons, for one it was a real page-turner. No stops just action that's the way I like a book to come at me. Also every chapter gave one more reason to keep going. Like one time when James was trapped in a room that was the end of the chapter and it made me want to read more. Finally I liked the surprise chase scene at the end. They did such a good job surprising me it hit me out of nowhere. A person who likes action and has some extra time on their hands, would love this book to death.

Are you looking for an action packed book ? Then Silverfin is the one to read. It's about a young boy named James Bond who is in all of Ian Fleming's original stories. Silverfin is set in the 1930's at Eton College and also in Scotland. The two main characters are James Bond and George Hellebore. The story is about a young boy who has to help his friend with his mean father who is a villan. The author Charlie Higson, starts the story out slow and then he speeds it up. I like that because it makes me not want to put this book down,it's so exciting! This book gives readers tons of suspense the whole way. For example when James is in a big fight and then the story transitions to an action sequence with another character in the middle of a different fight. Silverfin is also full of mystery like when James finally figures out what George is really up to and they get into a big fight. I would recommend this book to all James Bond fans from grades 6-9 because the vocabulary is somewhat easy. There is a sequel to Silverfin called Blood Fever. For fans of James Bond and action stories, Silverfin is the one to choose.

I never quite got around to seeing this Bond flick. I am a casual fan, meaning that I eventually get around to seeing them, but not usually in the theater. I ran across this audiobook version and figured I'd kill two birds with one stone - liven up my long commute with some entertainment and cross this Bond story off of my list.

This version is read by John Kenneth. Kenneth was confronted with a tough choice - how does he read Bond? Does his version of Bond sound like Connery? Dalton? Moore? Who? Kenneth's voice for Bond is unique and unforced, which cannot be said of some of the other voics he uses. At times, Kenneth presents the listener with a variety of increasingly-shrill British voices that sound more like the soundtrack of a Monty Python skit rather than a more serious presentation.

Being free of the movie format does offer the author, Raymond Benson, a bit of freedom and he uses it in two interesting ways:

#1 - the amount of sexual detail. Benson goes into graphic detail with Bond's sexual adventures. This is not in keeping with the movies which generally feature a wink and a nod and a female voice purring, "Oh, James!" as the camera fades to black. This is a trademark of the series, just as much as "Bond. James Bond" and "Shaken - not stirred" are and I think it should have been given more respect.

#2 - Benson explores the twisted background of a Bond arch-enemy rather than limiting his background to the bare oral briefing that Bond receives when he is assigned his mission. We learn all about the childhood of Renard, a terrorist bent on anarchistic chaos. I found that to be an interesting and welcome addition to the book.

Interestingly, this James Bond audiobook was directed by a man named Jim Bond!

Final grade for the audiobook version: C+

I saw the movie before i read the book so I knew everything that would happen but Benson does do an excellent job of explaining things!

I read the novelization of "Tomorrow Never Dies" before reading this. The thing I noticed with Benson is that in his novelizations he writes in third-person omniscent, allowing the reader to not only visualize everything, but know what the characters are thinking, which can obviously not be done in the movies. I had some of the movie before reading the book. After I read the book, however, I saw the movie and it made a lot more sense.

The world is not enough is the #1 book if you like action , excitment, and adventure its a book based on the 19th bond movie if you like bond you will like this!

Raymond Benson's second novel based on a screenplay is not entirely disappointing. It perhaps lacks the detail and depth of character evident in his "Tomorrow Never Dies" that was a top-notch adaptation of the screenplay. And that is what the cinematic THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH truly needed. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH atypically required a book to make sense of the confusing plot mixing the King family with Swiss Bankers, terrorists and British intelligence. In retrospect there are many intriguing elements of the film that somehow go undeveloped. The film's structure is more character based than driven by plot. Unfortunately, there was a great opportunity to delve deeper into the psyche of the central characters, but that opportunity went by the wayside. On a more practical note, it seemed rather incongruous to have M go out into the "field" and end up a captive behind bars in a seaside estate. This is completely out of character for the resourceful and worldly M characterized in TOMORROW NEVER DIES. The problem here is actually with the cinematic version of THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH and not Raymond Benson's novel.

I found this book to be a great introductory book into the world of Daytrading. And that is probably all you will ever get out of any book on Daytrading, just a few bits and pieces of useful information that you can use. Unfortunately for us, like most trading books, especially Daytrading books, it is overpriced.

I will begin by saying that just a few days ago, I was sitting here reading these book reviews just like you. This book is hyped everywhere so I decided to buy it. Unfortunately, I thought that if it sells for $60+, there must be some kind of demand for it. Well I received the book today and I already finished reading the whole thing! The book is EXTREMELY short (the print is large too) and each chapter is about 3 pages long. I don't want to bash this book, because it is a good overview for an absolute beginner. However, if you're already a fairly experienced daytrader looking to learn more, this book is not for you. The book isn't even really for daytraders.. it is just a basic overview of trading stocks in general. If you just opened up a trading account yesterday, you might find the book useful, but I'm returning it.

I found this book to be extremely light on useful information. 230 very small pages with big margins, and very few pages per chapter to use up even more space. The author, many times, will start to talk about something that makes you think, "Now this should be interesting", only to change the subject just at the point where the information could get useful. Very frustrating. Before buying any book I would seek an independent review, where you can at least be sure that the reviewer is not the writer himself.

IN MY OPINION, WHICH IS WORTH LITTLE MORE THAN THE SERVER THAT THIS MUMBO-JUMBO IS SAVED ON, THIS IS A FANTASTIC BOOK FOR BEGINNERS AND INTERMEDIATE TRADERS, AND A WASTE OF TIME FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO DECIDED TO TAKE THE EASY ROUTE TO TRADING SUCCESS (WHICH IS TAKING A BASEBALL BAT UPSIDE THE HEAD ABOUT FIFTY TIMES BEFORE I FIGURED WHAT I WAS DOING RIGHT AND WRONG IN THE MARKETS.

I HAVE BEEN TRADING FOR A WHILE, AND FOUND THAT MUCH OF THE INFO IN THIS BOOK I HAD ALREADY LEARNED BY LOSING MY *SS IN THE MARKET (OOPS)...BUT HEY, WHAT'S AN EXTRA SIXTY BUCKS FOR A BOOK AT THIS STAGE :-)

IF I HAD READ THIS BOOK A YEAR AGO, I WOULD HAVE SAVED MYSELF A NEW BMW (AND UNFORTUNATELY FOR ME IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A 318I, BUT RATHER THE BIG BOAT 735...YEAH, YOU KNOW THE ONE!)

ANYHOW, I DIGRESS. THE POINT IS THAT THIS IS A VERY GOOD FIRST YEAR BOOK ON INVESTING AND ACTIVE TRADING, AND OF LITTLE USE FOR THE WAR-BATTERED TRADER.

IF YOU NOT YET A SEASONED VETERAN, BUY THE BOOK AND READ IT TEN TIMES. IF YOU ARE ON YOUR SECOND TOUR, SKIP THIS ONE AND READ BOTH OF JACK SCHWAGER'S BOOKS.

HOPE THESE WORDS FROM A SARCASTIC OLD PISSER LIKE ME HELPS.

DFD

PS- I'M UP FOR THE YEAR, SO DON'T THINK THAT THIS OLD CODGER DOESN'T KNOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE GAME!

This is a five star must read for people who have been actively trading for less than a year. It is a real blueprint for learning the dos and don'ts of this profession.

There are other excellent books on the subject, but this one is the easiest to understand and absorb.

He is the worst narrator of all time. i listen to alot of audio books while traveling, driving or working. but this reader is the worst of all time
his voice just b|ows, its so annonying. i hope not to ever run in to any of more audio books by him. i am trying to listen to Terry goodkind books but LORD jim bond is reading them.
its a freaking nightmare

The General written by Patrick A. Davis is a thriller at its best. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Jenson is put in charge of finding out who killed General Watkins. That is not an easy task considering there is not much help from the army and Air Force. If the truth ever came out the United States of America would be in serious trouble. As Colonel Jenson investigates the murder he runs into all sorts of problems. For one, General Watkins was working on an investigation of POWs in Vietnam. The information he learned from the investigation very well could have got him killed. As time passes there are even a few more homicides. Will Colonel Jenson ever find the killer?
Patrick A. Davis is a retired Air Force Colonel. He is a full time writer and has three books out right now. They are: The General, the Colonel, and The Passenger. All are exceptional mystery novels.

ALthough Patrick A. Davis is my uncle, I do not read his books purely for that reason but because they are some of the most exciting books out there to read in my opinion. In this book, The General, Patrick's sense of the government, and his great knowledge helped him to write a very gripping book. There is homicide after homicide, and an exciting twist that pretty basically no one saw coming! It grabs your attention and you cannot turn away from it. You are stuck doing guesswork, trying to fit all of the puzzle pieces together to form an overview of the story, and also to try and figure out who is behind the vengefull, meaningless murders. You will never know unless you read the book just how great it is and I would definitly reccomend this wonderful pageturner to anyone who has had a military experience, who is into homicides, crime scene investigations, and putting the puzzle pieces of a book together. If you have read/ would like to read any of W.E.B. Griffin's books, I also highly reccomend this book to you, and if you do not like it, I guarantee it will not be bacause of the writing ability of the author but merely because you did not WANT to like it!

I've read all three of his books and this one is his best one. All of the suspects that Patrick Davis brings up die one by one until there are none left. It was hard for me to put down as I wanted to find out what was on the next page as there he was taking you on a suspenseful ride with twists thrown in. The ending has a surprise twist to it.

I couldn't put the book down. It was wonderful. I'm in the Air Force and everything he states is right on the money. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good work of fiction. I hope he continues writing for a long time.

When I picked this book up at the library, I was really excited for it. And I was still excited when I started the first section (there aren't really chapters, so page 1 to 12). But by page 10, I was bored. It's beautifully written, but topics and ideas and events are way too drawn out to keep my attention.
Still, I wanted to know what happened, so I skipped to the back of the book and started on page 257 then read to the end. This lets you know just enough to finish the book and understand what happened. And the ending is perfect.
I'm sure I'm missing a lot of important stuff that was in the middle, but for now, I know enough to be satisfied. I just don't think I'd be able to get through the middle.

Tricks don't make for good reading. I agree the guy's a poet -- he paints pictures like nobody else -- but every character seems sweaty, half-naked, and unemployed. If I wanted that, I'd walk through my own neighborhood. What I wanted was a story, but what I got was little Jimmy Joyce in a circle jerk with his MFA buddies.

Jon McGregor, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things (Houghton Mifflin, 2002)

In a general, very oversimplified sense, the reason we, as humans, have names is as a way to distinguish us from one another. When I was a small writer, knee-high to a grasshopper (actually, as my parents will tell you, I was never less than knee-high to a baluchitherium, but that's beside the point), one of the things I always thought would be cool was to write a novel that had no names whatsoever in it, where everyone would be distinguished by, well, other distinguishing features. A bunch of us did this with short stories in high school, and they worked pretty well, so why not a novel? Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian never actually names protagonist Sam Chamberlain, referring to him as "the Kid" the entire five-hundred-plus pages, why can't you do that with all your characters?

Well, the simple reason is that eventually, you will run to too many characters. A novel is longer than a short story, and there are only so many characters one can keep straight by distinguishing features without taking notes. And while I'm a fan of taking notes while reading (not only am I am media critic, and thus take notes during everything, but I also read a good deal of nonfiction), I have to say that any novel that forces you to take notes is probably going to be too much work for most folks. And that is the situation with If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things. Now, in the synopsis below, I'm going to do a bit of the work for you, so take notes. I should mention that some of the below may be considered minor spoilers for the book (I'm assuming that since McGregor didn't specify some of these things, he meant the reader to gradually discover them on his own, as I did), but trust me, when you get round to reading this, I think you'll be grateful.

The novel takes place in two separate time periods, in two separate places. One of them occurs three years before the other. The earlier time period concerns a morning on a lower-class street, and is full of quite beautiful descriptions of the street itself and the people living in it, many of whom are packing to leave after staying there for a summer (going back to school, presumably, or perhaps just not renewing their leases). This is the section of the book that contains no names; people are described by the house numbers where they live, and one other descriptive (there's the boy with the white shirt, the girl with the glitter round her eyes, etc.). The jacket copy tells us there's a mystery about this section of the book, but the book itself doesn't tell you that until well into itself. The later time period concerns a girl who used to live on the street-- for the life of me, though I have a general idea of who she is from the memories of the people she interacted with, I can't tell you what her number or identifying characteristic was-- who's drifted away from the people she used to know there. She has her own mystery, revealed about halfway through the book, that has nothing to do with the previous timeline. The rest of her story concerns how she deals with that mystery.

I think part of the reason this book missed with me is illustrated in one of the cover blurbs, where the reviewer (I can't remember who it was, nor can I quote, as the book is now back at the library) focuses on the fact that McGregor is writing about the lower class, examining them in the same way some writer examine the more monied classes. Had that not been pointed out, I'd have never made the distinction; in fact, I'm only aware the neighborhood is lower class because of that blurb, and because (if I recall correctly) one of McGregor's characters mentions it in passing somewhere in the book. If there were other signs that these characters were living in a lower-class situation, I either missed them or don't see those markers as class distinctions. Because of this, I didn't see this book as being terribly different than any other novel of its type, save the lack of names. I do think I understand what McGregor was trying to do there-- by stripping the characters of almost all their identifying characteristics, we are forced to not make any sorts of judgments about them based on their race, sex, social status, or what have you-- but I think it was taken too far here. There's a difference between not wanting the reader to make judgments about characters and forcing the reader into a tunnel vision as equally artificial as that which stems from racism/classism/what have you. Of course, it didn't help that the big mystery is so clumsily foreshadowed in the opening pages that you'll probably have figured out what it is by the time you've gotten through the first bit (the book contains no proper chapters, only pauses between the two storylines as they alternate). I'm notoriously slow regarding things like that, and I had it figured out by page five.

Not impressed with this one, sorry to say. **

If you are the type of reader that must re-read a beautiful sentence just for the joy of reading a beautiful sentence, or catch your breath when reading a description too perfect for words, then this is the book for you. It's been three years since reading If No One Speaks of Remarkable Things and McGregor's prose still haunts me.

It moves slowly, it's melancholic yet beautiful. Life and absurdity of circumstances mapped out for us, and the vibration starts from a point in your heart and extend to your whole body, filling you with awe and sadness.