"The Adventures and Misadventures of Peter Beard in Africa" is a spectacular look at the life of this well-known photagrapher and author. The writing is vivid and fascinating. The book is also illustrated throughout with Mr.Beard's excellent photographs. This book is a history lesson, ecology lesson, and art lesson all rolled up in one book, and is well worth reading. A real gem, about an amazing personality!

I love the subject and the presentation of this book, but the text, which is written in Kamante's naive and simple English, lacks substance. There is no point to his quaint observations and this kind of narrative can only appeal to the real Dinesen and Out of Africa fanatics who have to collect her every account. It's the kind of book you read once, think it looks great on the coffee table, perhaps try to give it to your young niece, was unsuccessful, and ultimately lob off at a garage sale. I returned it promptly.

I had a hardback copy of a previous edition which somehow slipped through my grasp and for which I have been searching vainly for twenty years. The combination of cultural perspectives effortlessly and simulataneously presented in a correspondent range of visual and graphical styles, telling stories of quiet appreciation and respect enchanted me like no other book, and I am grateful at least for finding a paperback edition and a thread to keep my hopes alive.

Peter Beard has lived near Karen Blixen's farm and collected her story from many of her friends and staff in Africa. In this beautiful book he assembles excellent original photographs of Karen Blixen and enhances them with photographs of his own from Africa. The commentary is by Kamante Gatura, Karen Blixen's cook. A fascinating book, especially because Kamante's version differs from that of some of Karen Blixen's biographers. The illustrations compliment a reading of Linda Donelson's "Out of Isak Dinesen in Africa: Karen Blixen's untold story."

Peter Beards latest book is short on words and long on interesting pictures. It is the most varied in subject content that I've seen in his work. Some of the wildlife scenes are without equal. The only detraction is that it is short on narration. If I could have one wish, I would really like to have him sitting beside me and telling me about each picture. I guess another complaint would be that the book is much too short, I want more. I have two of his other works (Eyelids of Morning, and End of the Game) which are longer and thus more satisfying to an avid reader. Some of this book can be seen in the others. A perspective buyer would also be advised to get more biographical information on Peter Beard to understand the background of work.

If you love Africa, her people and the wildlife, you will enjoy this book by Peter Beard. I first came across his very first published book 'The End of the Game'in 1965 featuring a fascinating look at East Africa's endless game animals and some of the colorful characters who hunted them. He recorded an Africa that is long gone. Subsequently his other works came out - 'Longing for Darkness', 'Eyelids of the Morning''Fifty Years of Portraits' and this title 'Beyond the end of the World' and I was fortunate to have some of them autographed. As always, Beard's photographs and diaries are a delight to read.

If you are looking for a happy picture book, in which you can see your favorite animals roaming the great landscape in majestic awe, then this is not the book for you. Beard delivers to us a very moving plea for the endangered African wildlife.

Yes, a number of the pictures are of dead animals, slaughtered for their tusks, hides or other prized body parts. The book is a morbid account of humankind's killing of these beautiful animals, not just their exploitation by the Africans or Indians.

Although the photographs alone tell a powerful tale, the text should by no means be ignored. Beard included powerful quotes, and detailed accounts of the "end of the game."

Excellent book, if you are looking for reality and are aware enough to know what to expect.

Having been introduced to his work at a gallery exhibit in New York, I bought this book which contains pretty much the same sad pictures. Really an amazing point of view of wildlife in Africa, might shock some with graphic pictures of carcasses, particularly one of a zebra with its hide stripped off. What I cannot figure out ultimately is where Peter Beard stands on the issue - although the big message appears to me that he opposes the killings, which is why he films the hideousness of it all, he seems to have personally participated in the hunts that he photographs, killing the same animals. He is very elusive about his personal viewpoint, seems kind of snobbish to me.

An excellent book for those that can handle the truth. It shows what will happen when nature is left to manage itself and what happens when men don't control themselves. It's about hard times and history-a way of life long forgotten. If you are a product of the spoonfed Disney age, then you'll find this book shocking. It may well be your first taste of truth about wild animals,wild places, and the true spirit of man. This book is about Old Africa and should not be judged with today's politically correct eye. It is an account of things happened in a forgotten time, and a lost way of life.

The title of this book makes you think it is full of nice, full page portraits. But it is just pages from Beard's scrapbooks, and it looks like a scrap book. Torn articles and photos are pasted down, with Beard's scrawls in the corners sometimes describing what the subjects are, sometimes not. He ruins a neat photo of Mick Jagger eating a giant lollipop on a boat by smearing red paint on the photo. Beard seems to think such paint smearing on his photos (that he does more than once) will give these photos a Jackson Pollock type of value. Afraid not. This book should have been titled "Scrapbook." Then those of us who wanted nice portraits wouldn't be disappointed, and those who wanted the "wild" experience of paging through a disorganized mess that is the product of a disorganized mind, would know where to go.

Peter Beard's genius stems precisely from his ability and willingness to extend the traditional concept of "portraiture" to realms heretofore untapped. His portraits, like his life, are vivid, eclectic, filled with artifacts and raw passion. Not for the timid but what art is? Think Francis Bacon with a Nikon. And Incidentally, in reply to the first reviewer who complained about this book, it's not ink he smears on his photographs, it's blood (sometimes his own). This book is a masterpiece.

Unlike another customer review, I find Beard's "reworking" of his photos to be the freshest element of his work. For those who are only comfortable with "studio" or traditional photography, a warning. Beard's work will always test your endurance, and the rewards are great if you stick it out.

This book is for the nerd in you - or at least the nerd in me! While described as "A First Course" it is by no means simple. The first pages jump right into electron theory of pn junctions, rather than Ohm's law, so if neither of these terms mean anything to you, I suggest you look elsewhere. Explanations are clear and concise, with meaningful diagrams explaining conceptually what is going on inside a piece of silicon. I found that I could jump to a section, begin reading, and understand most of what it was talking about, without getting caught up in enormous amounts of mathematics. Without having formal qualification, I cannot say whether this book is incomplete or not, but it was the first book to make me understand exactly *how* a transistor worked and *how* a diode let current flow only one way, without simply describing their behaviour and calling it gospel.

This book is a beautifuly presented and photographed con. In my association with Maasai people since 1985 I have never known, seen or been informed of such mystical objects. The accounts of the Maasai since Hinde, Hollis, Merker through to Klump and onwards have never alluded to the existence of such items. In talking to friends in the Loita Hills early in 2001 the items were dismissed as Kamba carvings. Turle provides no provenance for these objects and does not ever appear to have collected the items personally from the Maasai - which would heve been so easy to do - always by way of an intermediary, who obviously hot-footed it to the Kamba carvers south east of Nairobi to fulfil the next order. Turle and Beard should know better given the long association with Kenya. A nicely presented book but useless.