Bonds Books

Raymond Benson was responsible for the novelizations of two James Bond flicks, so it is not surprising that "Never Dream of Dying" too reads like a book version of a movie. Perhaps, that is why the book is quite readable and the action in it fairly fast-paced. Most fiction written these days is so boring that I have not read a full-length novel in 20 years. Therefore, I was quite pleased to be easily able to finish this book without throwing it away in disgust.

However, it cannot be said that "Never Dream of Dying" is well-written. Raymond Benson is a somewhat sloppy writer and his mistakes - both factual and literary - have slipped past his editor at Hodder and Stoughton, who, I suppose, is even more careless than Benson.

I raised my eyebrows when I read (on pages 238-239) that James Bond fires at the tail of a Porsche that is chasing him and puts several holes in its boot (trunk). The fact is that no Porsche car model has ever had a trunk in its tail! The trunk is in the front in all the rear-engined models and the few front-engined Porsche models ever made (924, 928, 944, 968) are fastbacks with no real trunk. Any way, Porsche stopped making front-engined cars in 1995. This book was published in 2001 and the undated action in it takes place well after 1995, according to the internal evidence in the book. It seems strange that Bond's pursuers belonging to a well-funded criminal organization would be driving a rather outdated automobile (if one grants that the 1995 Porsche 968 had a "trunk" in its tail) .

When the Ian Fleming Foundation invited Benson to take over the authorship of the Bond novels, there were complaints about an American being asked to write these books. Apparently in response to that criticism, Benson tries to write like an Englishman. Most of the time, he uses British terms like "lift", "lorry" and "petrol", yet he gives away his American origins when he refers (see pages 208-209) to an Alsatian as a German Shepherd! At other places in the book, he further lapses into Americanisms like "truck" and "gas". Ian Fleming would have never done that.

Vague writing crops up here and there in Benson's book. For example, on page 231, he writes "She ran through the channels with the remote and eventually turned it off". The reader is supposed to infer that "it" apparently refers to the television, not the remote. Benson's grammar is occasionally bad. He uses wrong prepositions as in "gangplanks from the [ship]" (page 166).

If somewhat poor writing does not catch your attention, then this book is certainly for you.

I think Benson did a courageous job with this book. Some people criticized him for what he did with the characters of Marc-Ange Draco and Mathis. I say that the Bond Universe was his to make use of, JUST AS IN ANY FRANCHISE. What he did with Draco was dramatic and surprising. This is one of Benson's BEST Bond novels.

This is the first of these pastiches of the old James Bond series that I have read. I will confess that I read Fleming many years ago (I think I was in high school) and enjoyed some of the earlier John Gardner books, frankly, more than I enjoyed Fleming. Later I became annoyed with Gardner somewhat, though he did attempt to paper over some of the sillier scenes in the later movies filmed while he was doing the writing. Raymond Benson is the latest contestant in the continuing saga of someone trying to write a book continuing a character that someone else created.

Benson's writing is only mediocre, but of course the plot is what's important. All of the typical elements of a James Bond novel are here: a criminal mastermind who's trying to do horrible things, a weaker sidekick who's been maneuvered into cooperating, a beautiful woman caught up in things who's unsuspecting, and of course exotic locales and sophisticated entertainments like fancy restaurants and gambling in Monte Carlo.

Benson handles all of this reasonably well, though as I said the writing's only so-so. I enjoyed the book reasonably well, and would recommend it to someone looking for mindless beach entertainment or something to read on a plane while travelling somewhere.

"Never Dream of Dying," by Raymond Benson, is a classic James Bond thriller containing all the necessary Bond elements. Raymond Benson does well continuing James Bond's ventures; he picked up after John Gardner who came after Ian Fleming himself. This one was both my first James Bond read and my first Raymond Benson read. Both are as satisfying as any of the movies.

The action scenes, love scenes, and Bond-moment scenes are all thrilling ("Bond-moment": James Bond performs a slick, suave stunt). The characters, setting, and scenes were all described well enough to make them come to life. The characters especially, such as Tylyn Mignonne, were very well described that I had a firm feel for what that character looked like, how he or she acted, etc.

The weakness is in the longer descriptions, such as the beginning, where the author talks about things that the reader doesn't really need to know; the book slows down too much at times. There is no suspense in these areas; Benson just goes on about things related to the upcoming action sequence, but the read would be much smoother if Benson would have skipped over the extra explanation.

Strength exists in Raymond Benson's understanding of the James Bond character; he knows what Bond likes, does, how he acts.... The book contains all of the necessary elements of a Bond adventure ranging from James Bond's stunts, attitude, suaveness, coldness, and women. James Bond in 'Never Dream of Dying' is a necessary read for Bond-lovers and a good entertainment for everyone else.

After enjoying James Bond novels for the guilty pleasures they are, I finally have to put them to rest with Benson's latest `novel'. I may pick up a Bond book one day, but it will not be a Benson.

Ian Fleming's novels are finally back in print in the USA, and I would encourage everyone reviewing here to pick them up and read them all. Fleming was very good at what he did. Bond was a perfect character to go to the movies, and he has endured as a character well past the Cold War.

Bond was resurrected for the page in the early 80s by spy novelist John Gardner, who churned out no less than 13 Bond novels in about 15 years. Some were good, some were awful. It became clear that Gardner was not very interested in the legacy or the character of Bond. His books seemed to be about a guy named Bond who was a secret agent.

Raymond Benson, super James Bond fan and indeed president of a fan club, was given the mantle to write these books. Not a novelist, Benson did good research and came up with good stories to work Bond and UK interests in.

Unfortunately, he is a bad writer. A non-writer. His books alternate between long descriptions of everything Benson learned on his fact-finding missions to the locales featured in the novel, and then he cuts over to action, bad dialogue, more description, and even went so far as to include some nauseating and embarrassing sex scenes. He cannot write a novel where all of these elements blend into a solid story with sharp plotting and clear characters.

Benson is obsessed with Fleming's Bond. However, he is not obsessed with attempting to write prose that even approaches John Gardner, let alone Fleming. The results are incredibly disappointing and downright silly at times. I don't know how well these have been selling, but it seems like the literary franchise of Bond has been destroyed. While each new Bond films takes in more than the last, Bond books just keep getting more upsetting.

I couldn't even finish this book. After resurrecting characters Fleming created and killed, Benson's plotting is very shoddy, skipping out on Bond for whole sections. The lack of anything approaching engaging prose made me put this, and Benson, down for good.

I gave him a chance. I endured most of `the Union' trilogy, which is a sad attempt to resurrect SPECTRE. It doesn't have to be this bad. Glidrose needs a pro writer who can up the stock of Bond books.

Not recommended. Go and hunt down Fleming, who must be spinning several times in his grave.

Goodbye, Mr. Benson.

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!

The Savings & Loan scheme was a creation of Michael Milken and his firm Drexel Burnham. They realized they could sell high risk securities to S&Ls while assuring the S&Ls (correctly) that being FDIC insured they could not lose.

The ultimate cost to the taxpayers (which is to say the Middle Class) was some $150 billion.

Charlie Keating as noted in the "Predator's Ball", when Keating tried, repeatedy, to contact Milken to be part of his group, Milken's secretary would just say: "You are not a Jew" and hang up on him.

This is a very honest book about life and how ethnicity on WALL STREET matters!

This author presents a thorough and conclusive account of Mike Milken. The level of depth she was able to provide here is really impressive.

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.

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.

I've been working my way through Ian Fleming this summer, and this book is as much fun as any of the Bond novels. Honey Rider is not the most believable of Bond girls, but the descriptions of Jamaica are marvelous.

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.

Published in 1958, "Doctor No" is a transitional novel for the James Bond series. Gone is much of the moral queasiness, realism, and psychological turmoil of earlier tales. In its place is a Walther PPK, vodka martinis shaken not stirred, and a supervillain living in a hidden fortress. Given all that, "Doctor No" should be fun at least, but it's not.

Set in Jamaica, site of earlier series entry "Live And Let Die" and the last Fleming novel, "The Man With The Golden Gun", "Doctor No" has Bond investigating the disappearance of two British secret agents. The trail leads to the title character, a six-foot-six bald man with metal pincers for hands, metal contact lenses, and an interest in harvesting guano from an island just beyond Jamaica called Crab Key. No doubt Bond knows No's up to no good. Soon 007 is in the clutches of a madman, facing an imminent and horrible death just as soon as No explains what he's all about over a nice meal.

Maniac, you call him? No couldn't agree more: "All the greatest men are maniacs. They are possessed by a mania which drives them forward towards their goal."

What's driving Fleming here is less clear. He seemed to resent having to bring Bond back from death at the end of his last book, really putting the character through the torture test this time. There's a casual cruelty to this book that makes it hard to digest as entertainment. I had a real Quarrel with the fate of one cool Bond ally. And the finale is about as silly as Fleming ever got, Bond fighting tarantulas and an octopus for some silly test of No's that the villain himself can't even bother to watch to completion while there's bird dung to harvest. The villain's fate suggests a sad laugh by a disillusioned author at his readers' gullibility.

Good points include some decent descriptive mileage regarding the mangrove swamps of Crab Key and the social life of Kingston; both the rich whites who live in the affected splendor of the Queen's Club "which for fifty years has boasted the power and frequency of its blackballs", and the blacks who play calypso and drink Red Stripe at scenic outdoor cafes. There's also Honeychile Rider, Bond's latest lady. The movie version famously gave us Ursula Andress in this role, but the character in the book exudes vulnerability more than hotitude, and her backstory is one of the best of any Bond woman.

The movie "Doctor No" was what launched the whole 007 movie phenomenon, still alive and very well at this writing. You can see how it was the right choice, too, as everything here is amped up for cinematic consumption. No lives inside a seaside cliff with a transparent face, so he can watch all the creatures swimming around. Instead of sending men with guns to shoot the birds he doesn't want on his island, he has them drive around in an automotive contraption disguised as a dragon, complete with flame-thrower inside its mouth.

Alas, these ideas would be more welcome if Fleming knew what to do with them. Unfortunately, his much-talked-about "Fleming Sweep" sputters once the story kicks into a higher gear.

"Doctor No" is a series low point that ironically became a franchise high point thanks to the movie. If you are reading the books in order like I am, you have no choice but to read it, but if you are like me, you will find it a surprisingly tedious chore.

Doctor No starts off weakly but finishes strong. Picking up a few weeks after the conclusion of From Russia with Love, Doctor No finds Bond just returning from a long stay in hospital after being poisoned. M is determined to keep Bond out of strenuous duty, so he sends him on a presumably easy mission to investigate the disappearance of British Intelligence's Jamaican operator. And by the way, M seems to add as an afterthought, some people have been dying mysteriously on nearby Crab Key.

Bond resents the easy assignment but has a hunch that the deaths on Doctor No's private island may have something to do with the missing intelligence man and his secretary. He pokes around Jamaica, is sharp enough to detect a poisoned fruitbasket and narrowly avoids being bitten by a giant centipede. He meets up with Quarrel, the Cayman Islander boatman from Live and Let Die, and sneaks onto Crab Key one night. On Crab Key he meets Honeychile "Honey" Rider, who collects rare shells--in the nude, of course--on the island in hopes of earning enough money to correct a broken nose.

Of course, things on Crab Key are not what they seem--or perhaps they are, since there's never much question whether Dr. No is the villain or not. Bond and Honey are captured, tortured, and, in the end, manage to foil Dr. No's plot--and spend some "slave-time" together.

I was disappointed with Doctor No at first. It follows on the heels of From Russia with Love, one of the best Bond novels and one that ends in a major cliffhanger: at the end, Bond collapses to the floor after being poisoned. The end. Doctor No quickly tidies up the loose ends from the last novel and sends Bond on his way to Jamaica. There Bond pokes around, searching for information the reader already knows. But perhaps the biggest disappointment was Honey Rider, who may be the quintessential movie Bond girl, but here is a bit of a cipher.

But while the first third or so of the novel is mediocre, the story dramatically improves once Bond has reached Crab Key and the party beings its trek inland. While there had been only moments of suspense before--the centipede in Bond's bed was a good scene, but only one among a lot of mediocre ones--the suspense steadily builds as Bond and Honey are captured, led before the Doctor himself, and then separated for equally miserable fates.

Bond's dilemma at the climax of the novel reminded me quite a lot of "The Most Dangerous Game," a short story you must Google if you haven't read it. Bond is placed in an obstacle course of Dr. No's design, where he is subjected to claustrophobic spaces, 50-foot drops, cold, heat, spiders, and finally, the sea and its monsters. This section was among the best writing of the Bond series--by this point, I couldn't put the book down.

Doctor No would have been a forgettable entry in the Bond series had it not been for the final half. If you read this novel, be prepared for sometimes boring sections in the first half, but keep reading--the finale is worth it.

Recommended.

If moving average oscillator is part of your trading plan, this book will help tremendously. This book has very specific strategies and tactics concerning moving average oscillator usage. Although they are not meant to be mechanized, they are systematic enough to be used in very structured way.

I was very interested in Bill Williams's trading method, because I have used Metatrader4 to treat currency pairs. MT4's technical analyses have Bill Williams's alligator and AO and AC and others in default setting. I read this book and try to do exactly and realized that it is difficult to make profit in flat and corrective triangle waves. To avoid this waste of money, you must understand Elliot wave principle or keep eyes on the chart. But once a trend start, this method makes profit certainly. Totally make a little profit unless lost compensation at all in flat double and triple three.

1. Everything in the Universe follows the path of least resistance

2. An always underlying and usually unseen structure determines the path of least resistance.

3. The always underlying and usually unseen structure can be discovered, and it can be altered.

4. The four largest money gatherers and distributors in the world are: war, medicine, insurance, and religion.

5. Traders who let the new incoming information organize their trading will be in sync with the market and thereby will be winners.

6. "The market is infinitely complex. Freedom and free will-strange attractors-prevail over rules and determinacy.

7. Fractals are the way markets organize themselves.

8. Everything that exists is drawn out of this quantum soup by attractors. All outer phenomena are governed by four attractors: point attractor, cycle attractor, torus attractor, and strange attractor. Point attractor lives in the dimension of a line, which is made up of infinite number of points. Whenever, a point attractor is governing, a person is drawn to one particular activity, or repelled from another. The cycle attractor is back and forth movement, like a pendulum or circling magnet. It is characterized of a range bound or bracketed market where the price moves up and down in a range over a period of time. One activity automatically leads into another activity. In grain markets, one year of high prices produces more plantings in the next spring, which produces lower prices. The cycle attractor produces a structural tension between the two poles and opens the way for integration between the two opposites. The torus attractor begins a complex cycle that repeats itself as it moves forward. If the bond interest goes up, it attracts mre investors. Bond prices go up, which lowers the interest rate and makes bonds less attractive, and so on. Third dimension, predictions are more precise, higher degree of irregularity, patterns more complex, and repeating function. Strange attractor becomes self-organizing. One characteristic of strange attractor is its sensitivity to initial conditions. The slightest variation in the beginning can make enormous differences in the end result. The strange attractor allows us to participate in the ebb and flow of the market and of life.

9. Bill Williams trade approach involves five perspectives: 1. Momentum 2. Change in the speed of current momentum 3. Appearance of initiating fractal 4. zonal influences 5. balance-line differentials.

10. To win consistently in the markets you must get to know them and how they process incoming information. Get in tune with the market and change your belief about the market and the world.

11. One of the keys to profitable trading is to take only those trades with the most potential and stay out of situations where there is marginal potential.

12. Most of the time the market goes nowhere and about 15 to 30 percent of the time does the market trend. We don't want to waste time entering and existing the market without profiting, if the market is going nowhere then opportunity is going nowhere.

13. Alligator is blue line (13 bar moving average), red line (8 bar moving average offset 5 bars into the future), and green line (5 bars moving average 3 bars into the future). Blue is the jaw, red line is the teeth, green is the lips the balance line. When all three lines are intertwined the alligator is sleeping, range bound market. We don't want to loss money during a range bound. All five highs or lows should be on the same side of the blue balance line. The stop to exit is just inside the red line (teeth).

I've read all three books by Bill Williams and I think this is his best work.

I'm not sure if I agree with every trading tool that he presents, but, like any new information: you apply them to your own objectives. However, make no mistake...his ideas are important and he's done extremely well to lay them out in a readable manner.

This is just my own opinion, but I feel that you can't dismiss other aspects of technical analysis. Combining a few important technical rules with non-linear trading techniques will produce excellent results as long as you apply them correctly. Further, I've read many books on linear mechanical trading models and usually they don't describe ideas that lend themselves to you as a trader adapting efficiently to changing market conditions.

Put simply, if you read between the lines, he suggests a way of thinking that is non-linear and constantly changing: the crux of the markets.

It's not the trading methodology that makes this book valuable. Whenever I reread it I completely skip that part. As a matter of fact, in his next book "Trading Chaos Second Edition" Bill pretty much admits the system underperforms in current market conditions and makes the very significant refinement of using a counter-trend signal that he refers to as a "divergent bar" for first entry. He says without saying it in that book that those following the method in this book will be "late and have a difficult time making any money."

No, the reason I have held on to this book, instead of selling it with the others, is the psychological stuff, and the innovated way he ties physics in with successful trading. It is very introspective, thought-provoking, and yes, quite helpful. To quote the book, get out of the win vs. loss mindset and get into the here and now process of noticing what is happening and being in tune with the market.

[...]

This was an extremely gripping book, so I warn you once you pick it up you will not want to put it down. James Bond is a new boy to Eton and on the first full day at the start of his half (term) he has already made an enemy. As you will find out this rival will pose a great threat to him later on in the book.
Although he has made an enemy he has also made a few friends, two of which share a room as Eton is an all boarding school. He is a very accomplished long distance runner and is a high ranked swimmer as well.

The father of James' new enemy is Lord Randolph Hellebore who is helping the school out with many facilities and in return he had a cup named after him. But funnily enough the three sports that were going to be taking place in the Hellebore Cup were all Randolph's son's best sports. Also there is something weird going on at his estate, Loch Silverfin. So what are you waiting for!

"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.