Burroughs Books

I completely disagree with the review "Rarely Read But Important For Any Burrough's Fan, June 17, 1998"

He starts off, correctly, but misses the point. By alternating the "dream" or interzone sequences, he is letting out his early childhood- dreams and experiences. Having read ALL of his books, and most of the biographies- as well as seeing him read before he passed away- I think this is one of the missed gems, and should be more recognized for what it is- simply another brilliant book by WSB. (1914-1997) The mere fact that he didn't want to be a writer, and Kerouac and Ginsberg had to type all his early manuscripts for him- speaks for itself. It's incredible. If he hadn't picked up a pen,there would be a great loss in literature. As Norman Mailer correctly pointed out, "He is the only writer alive, conceivably possessed by genius..."

A comparatively obscure work that came after Exterminator! and before Cities Of The Red Night. Very poetic and beautiful to read, continuing the ideas and characters of The Wild Boys from a different viewpoint: revolution through magic, body transference, lust and violence, and in this case sentimental reminiscence of an idealised boyhood. Although not as explosive as some of his more lauded works, this is nonetheless a treasure that has haunted me like a lost love.

This book is often passed over and has little that can't be experienced in other must-reads by Burroughs like the two early narratives, Naked Lunch, and the cut-up trilogy. But what it does contain is possibly "real" autobiographical insight into Burroughs' childhood. It was written at an important phase in Burroughs' life--just as he was preparing to return to the US of A from his self-inflicted exile in Tunisia. What is surprising about this book is that it is his only work primarily situated in childhood episodes. Are these his own early experiences with sexuality? Difficult to decipher. Also shocking (to a Burroughs' reader) is his attempt to direct his cut-up random method into a more apprehendable narrative. Also, it largely occurs in St. Louis and his early boyhood homes in America... with periodic flights to an "interzone." This review is for a reader of Burroughs, and as I have said there isn't much new here nor is it his best writing, but each of the facets I mentioned about should compel an avid fan to read this strangely personal and insightful look into a man in transition and upheavel who normally and so easily eludes interpretation and any sense of emotion. Try it.

My daughter (2) enjoys the seek and find books in this series. What is especially nice about this book is that you not only find a list of items in each scenario, but you also have to find where Elmo is hiding in the photo -sometimes it's not as obvious. Each scenario is from a different part of the world. I recommend this one as my favorite out of the seek & find series.

I picked this book up off the bargain rack at Barnes and Nobel and my two year old son LOVES it. He is an Elmo fan anyway - but this book goes beyond the Elmo appeal. Lots to looks at in the pictures. Opens up all sorts of learning opportunities. And since it is a giant board book, it is really sturdy. The pages also have that glossy sort of coating so that you can clean juice off them... bonus!

This book is perfect for any toddler whether they are big fans of Sesame Street or if they are just getting introduced to Sesame Street. This book has Sesame Street characters on each page and then on the side of the page shows your child a drawn picture of the object they are suppose to find within the 2 pages that are side by side. What is also neat is that if you go to the last page they also have other objects for your child to find, as your child grows and does need to see a picture but knows the word to find the object. I personally love books that grow with your child as they grow!

The countries featured in this book are: China, Canada, Costa Rica, Tibet, Australia and France.

I noticed at the time of my review 5/4/07 that there where only 3 books for sale from private sellers through Amazon and hopefully they will carry the book. But if they stop selling this book, you can also find the book check your local booksotores. I was at Barnes and Noble 5/3/07 and found it on sale for $7.99.

What happens when business people start to act like 5 year olds at the playground - I'm taking my ball and going home. This is a great story about the desire of American Express to move into the world of private banking and the bank they tried to by - Republic Bank run by Mr. Saffra. Not only does the book provide us this weird story but also it gives the reader a great back ground on these two companies - the American Express information was very interesting. The story of the two companies coming together and then having a lovers spat is just darn interesting and a little tabloid TV. The book keeps your interest and is a nice little find if you pick it up.

Burrough's fabulous research is rarely matched, the marvelous style is consistent with his previous work on 'Barbarians at The Gate'. Few business authors will thrill you as much as Burroughs or James B. Stewart.

The story of how the custodian (Jim Robinson) of one the worlds most recognized names, American Express launched a defamation campaign against a Swiss banker (Edmond Safra). Their efforts would've succeeded if they didn't rely upon an eccentric master of PR (Harry Freeman), a neurotic conspiracy theorist (Susan Cantor) and what could only be described as weasel of a man (Tony Greco)to execute it all.

The portrayal of Safra as an innocent is a bit misleading. Admittedly he took advantage of his post holocaust Jewish peers by purchasing their gold for obscenely below market prices to resell at market prices. In addition, Safra isn't without blame in American Express's paranoia that he would exercise unscrupolous tactics himself.

Read the book to find out why.

I am a fan of the authors writing in general. If you're a person who enjoys reading stories in the Wall Street Journal etc then this book may very well be for you (the author works at WSJ).

This is a fascinating story of international intrigue and business. The author provides historical background for both AmEx and Mr Saffra and then proceeds into the meat of the story.

What's interesting here is that the Vendetta alluded to in the title raises some serious ethical questions on the part of some folks. All I'll say is as you read it do a name search on the web and see where some of them are today, it's not the poor house and it's not jail either.

The book exposes high finance, high power, bare knuckled business street fighting taken to an internation stage.

In my experience Kendra Crossen Burroughs is one of the best editors in the field of Eastern spiritual literature and texts. As well as working freelance, she has been a long-term editor on the staff of Shambhala Publications, and I was happy to have her involved in a book that I had published by Shambhala, although not a book in Eastern thought.

I was very excited when I heard that Kendra was doing this book for Skylight Paths, since the Gita has been one of my, and many other people's favorite and most important spiritual sources, and I eagerly looked forward to its appearance. If I wasn't one of the first people in the world to buy a copy, at least I was one of the first on my block.

I was not disappointed. If I was, I would have never written this review. A blurb on the cover by renowned authority, Ken Wilber, says, "The very best Gita for first time readers." This is one of the rare occasions when a blurb is absolutely true. But, the further truth is that Burroughs's annotations make this a book for the experienced reader of the Gita as well. Burroughs has consulted and used over twenty other translations in her annotations to this particular translation that she uses, the 1935 one by Shri Purohit Swami, and this scholarship, plus Burroughs' own personal experience, make this a valuable book for a reader of any degree of experience.

Besides Burroughs' own brilliant annotations, Skylight has done an innovative and equally brilliant job of format, where the annotations are on one page, and the reference text is on the facing page, so that the reader has the annotations right at hand as s/he reads, and does not have to thumb through to the back of the book or chapter to look them up. The only problem that I encountered with this was my own idiosyncratic one of whether to read the text page through and then turn to the annotations alongside it, or read each annotation as it is referred to in the text. I never completely settled this for myself. Other readers may want to read the annotation page first, and then read the facing page of the Gita text.

As Burroughs notes, the Purohit translation is a good first time one, because he purposely set out to eliminate all foreign words of the Indian Sanskrit language, and uses only terms familiar to the Western, English speaking reader. For myself, however, who is not a newcomer to Eastern thought (though certainly not a Gita scholar at all), I am less happy with this choice. I want to know what the key Sanskrit terms are in the Gita text, which have a meaning and connotation that is at least somewhat different than the familiar English terms used. For example, in the famous and central verses (Ch 4: 7-8) where Krishna tells his disciple Arjuna about who he is and the reason for his periodic appearance in human history, the Purohit text has it, "To protect the righteous, to destroy the wicked, and to establish the kingdom of God, I am reborn from age to age." The very Christian phrase "the kingdom of God," could easily throw off the reader. The Sanskrit actually says, "for the establishment of dharma," and thus it connects with the whole Indian sense of truth and untruth (dharma and adharma), more abstract and general, and later carried with such powerful effect into Buddhism. In 1935 "the Kingdom of God" might have worked better, but in our time, dharma says more, and more accurately to many of us. However, Burroughs' annotations corrects or overcomes a lot of these problems (but not in this case). So, where the Purohit text says (Ch 6: 23) that meditation "should be practiced with determination and with a heart which refuses to be depressed," Burroughs explains that the actual Sanskrit term is "chetas, a synonym for chitta (mind). In Indian philosophy , 'heart' is considered an aspect of mind, concerned with intuitive understanding and valuation." Gems like this of elucidation and clarification occur throughout the annotation pages facing the text.

What reading this edition of the Gita has prompted me to do, in part related to my issue with the Purohit translation, is to now have three Gita's that I carry side by side, and compare them as I read in it--this one, Prabhavananda/Isherwood, and Nikhilananda's. Burroughs would be happy with this effect on me of her edition, and in this case would consider her work a success. And these three, are one more than the two translations of the Bible that I have on hand.

Kendra Crossen Burroughs has done a great service with the annotations of Sri Purohit Swami's classic translation of Bhagavad Gita, the Topmost Hindu Sacred Text. Not only is the translation unrivaled in its ability to communicate the universal message of God to humanity,but it is a joy to read and study thanks to clear English and an ability to prune down the additives of the original to a bare minimum. I was also thrilled to see that the annotations selected leaned heavily toward the recorded words of many of the primary exponents of Vedantic and Vaishnava philosophy in the West. The combination of crisp text and exquisite annotations makes this translation a must for all students of the Song of God. One only wishes that it was available as a hardcover. I know my copy will be used often and consulted any time i use another translation for whatever reason.

Who can't love a book in which WB tells all?

"Conversations With William S. Burroughs" might be more than most readers interested in the Beats might care to read. However, if you find the life of a writer as intriguing as his writings, you'll love this.

As a student of the Beat style (particularly how Kerouac merged poets into music), I was curious to learn more about the people of the movement.

"Conversations With William S. Burroughs" feeds into the pretensions of Burroughs' personality. There's the obvious cross-pollinating in here, showing how Corso, Ginsberg, Ferlingetti, Kerouac all fed each other compliments. Owning a lot of the pop-philosphy which eventually ruined the Beats... discussing issues he didn't care about in 'real life'. It is hard to tell what Burroughs finds interesting, and what he really believed in.

This isn't the best you'll read on Burroughs, but it is essential to get into the full look of the writer's pensive life. He seems more introspective than his counterparts, but just as politically-minded.

I recommend "Conversations With William S. Burroughs."

Anthony Trendl

This particular edition of the ERB Mars series is just horrible for typos - at a guess, it was OCR'd in from an earlier edition and run through a spell-checker but no proofreader ever laid human eyes on it. Hard to imagine a human proofreader would allow "This is where the bring the dead" to become "This is where they bang the dead".

So 5 stars for ERB; 3 stars for the edition.

Leonaur Ltd. is publishing the definitive Edgar Rice Burroughs 21st century editions. These usually contain 2 books of the different ERB major series in order - thus far John Carter, Pellucidar, and Carson of Venus. In the future, possibly Tarzan!
These books are handsome and my rating is mainly based on this - the ERB fan knows best about the rest of it.
Volume 3 contains "The Chessmen of Mars" in which the author introduces a Martian chess game, complete with rules and description. This game actually had a small, dedicated group of practitioners back in the 60s or 70s and you could buy sets of Martian chess. The other one introduces another earthman who travels to Barsoom(Mars) into a different part of the planet from John Carter's.
These books cannot equal the original John Carter trilogy but are nevertheless good ERB. ERB produced more quality book in the John Carter series than in any other series he wrote. including Tarzan.
All ERB fans who can afford them should buy these magnificant Leonaur Limited editions.

Someone should have been doing this years ago.

Leonaur Ltd. is publishing the definitive Edgar Rice Burroughs 21st century editions. These usually contain 2 books of the different ERB major series in order - thus far John Carter, Pellucidar, and Carson of Venus. In the future, possibly Tarzan!
These books are handsome and my rating is mainly based on this - the ERB fan knows best about the rest of it.
This volume contains the 9th and 10th books of the John Carter of Mars series. As I mentioned before, ERB maintained a high standard of quality troughout this entire series.

This particular edition of the ERB Mars series is just horrible for typos - at a guess, it was OCR'd in from an earlier edition and run through a spell-checker but no proofreader ever laid human eyes on it. So 5 stars for ERB; 3 stars for the edition.

Leonaur Ltd. is publishing the definitive Edgar Rice Burroughs 21st century editions. These usually contain 2 books of the different ERB major series in order - thus far John Carter, Pellucidar, and Carson of Venus. In the future, possibly Tarzan!
These books are handsome and my rating is mainly based on this - the ERB fan knows best about the rest of it.
This volume contains the 7th and 8th John Carter of Mars novels. In contrast to other series, the Mars books maintain a high standard of quality to the end.

This is one of the best books i have ever read. I read it and it was so spectacular that i could have cryed. This book is a must read for any person into Fantasy or Science fiction.

The year is 1916. The Great War is raging half a world away from the desolate, rocky shore of Greenland where a perfectly good thermos bottle washes up on the wave-swept shore. A man stoops to pick up the strange bottle. Inside is a manuscript-the fantastic story of adventurer Bowen Tyler, who has been taken captive aboard an enemy submarine, and at this moment is battling flesh-ripping dinosaurs and brutal cave men on the lost continent of Caspak. In the uncharted seas at the bottom of the world, the submarine has stumbled upon the towering, rock-bound coastline that kept Caspak hidden for eons.

Book one, The Land That Time Forgot, is the story of Bowen Tyler's adventures on the mysterious forgotten continent where the savage inhabitants of millions of years past roam beast-infested jungles. Book two, The People That Time Forgot, begins when Tom Billings goes in search of his lost friend. More giant prehistoric creatures of the land, sea and air of Caspak battle the bewildered but determined Billings. Book three, Out of Time's Abyss, neatly wraps up the Caspak trilogy by unraveling the mystery of the land where time has stopped. The characters of the two previous books reunite in a satisfying and spectacular conclusion.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of the Tarzan books as well as the founder of the town of Tarzana, California, lived from 1875 to 1950. His seventy science fiction and adventure books, including Tarzan of the Apes, A Princess of Mars, and Carson of Venus, have remained popular since their publications. Several of his books have been made into motion pictures; Tarzan has been made and remade several times, the latest of which is Disney's summer of `99 animation. The first two books of the Caspak trilogy and At the Earth's Core were made in the early 60s in black and white; all three starred Doug McClure.

It's fun to go back to the way we all felt in 1960 about planets and un-explored areas of Earth. Before the satellites and space probes showed us everything and took away all the mystery about intelligent life in our solar system.

This is the shortest of ERB's works that I have read to date, I suspect it must have been published originally in a perodical of some sort as it only has 9 chapters (123 pgs). The story is told in the first person, Jefferson Turck is a naval officer for Pan-America, patrolling the 30 degree longitude line.

Burroughs apparently wrote this with a very bleak veiw of the turn of events for WWI, as in this story set in the 2200s, Europe has managed to anihilate it self so completely as to leave its survivors in a state of primativeness.

I wasn't as sucked into this as I have been with other ERB works, his voice wasn't as strong, and he was very rushed at the end--I could have seen this as another world of his being explored in future works. I still was very interesting in what I read, thinking as I turned the pages of the events that were happening to him in the present to inspire this story. I rather think it would make a timely movie for today's audience. (I kept thinking Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow)

A more thought provoking read than I expected, but still enjoyable with a couple of interesting (Female--I rather liked Victory's little sister, Mary, as it isn't often I see ERB write little girls, he did it pretty well) characters and some neat sort of sci-fi inventions (the plane that will dive under water and become a sub--pretty neat).