As a huge fan of James Bond in all his various incarnations, I was interested to find a copy of this book the other day in a sale and purchased a copy. My doubts about its' value however began almost immediately, after all how serious can you take a claim that a book is the definitive account of a subject when the authors start by rubbishing their competitors. For the record there are a number of excellent "glossy" style books with flash pictures that are just as good, if not better reference books than this one. Also the number of different accounts of the James Bond phenomenon make it impossible for anyone to claim their version of events is right and everyone else is wrong. Top that off with the fact that the authors here give new meaning to the word "nitpicking", but ironically while they mention some totally pointless trivia connected with various stories and movies, they actually managed to miss a number of other more important details. At the end of the day this is a comprehensive, though at times patronising, account of the world's greatest secret agent. But don't be fooled, there are better books around if you want, and don't be surprised if "M" puts out a 'terminate with extreme prejudice' order on these two authors !!!

This was a quick pick at an airport one day and I was amazed at all the goodies inside. If you've ever wanted to know every language that Bond ever spoke, what gadget or gizmo he used in which movie, or all the aliases he's ever used, this is the book for you. "The Bond Files" is a great book with all kinds of facts, trivia, and information for each story, comic, and movie. The authors even review the opening title sequences and have a nice synopsis of each movie. They don't miss much with this book.

One of the best books to have on James Bond.

Just what makes him tick? Read and find out!

maybe the best bond on print to date. wished they would make a movie of it. it keeps you clued to the page wondering whats going to happen next.. a must read... get if you can.

This one is good. VERY good! One of the best villians in a long time. Plot is a little twisted, but you don't notice two much. Final challenge is the best part of the book. Stunning!

This is such a great book and i love it i baught it have reading it when i rented the book at the libary. Now i have read it 3 times and i am reading a 4 time write now. I never get sick of it! Broken Claw should be a movie! You have to read this book it is the BEST!

SMERSH is back in this intigue packed adventure that has Bond running from Ireland to Hong Kong. However, The Bond girl is ditzy and not as interesting as most of the women he usually shacks up with.

This is one of John Gardner's weakest bond books. VERY, VERY complex plot and hard to understand. 007 protects members of W.W.II spy ring. Kind of boring :(

Buy this and read it!! Grab something and hold on! Great excapism from the second author of the 007 books!

This book covers an interesting life story and has great detail, but unfortunately much of that detail has nothing to do with Mr. Fleming's life, instead focusing on the bloodlines of every British person he ever met. A typical sentence would read "While at the party Ian met John Blankenship of Eddileshile, who would later become the Duke of Ipswitch and marry the Dutchess of Flem, whose mother, the Dame of Foppishnich, once had lunch with Sir Henry Handllberg" - and NONE of these people would have had anything to do with the story, the party, or Ian Flemming. It is as if a Flemming biography was inadvertantly been mixed with a "Complete Peerage of the Brittish Isles" and they went ahead and published it anyway. If you must, get the print version, so you can skim over the irrelevant stuff that pops up every other sentence - if you listen to the Audible audio version (like I did) you will find it had to follow and boring to boot.

In a fashion, Mr. Lycett's biography is as detailed as Carlos Baker's biography of Ernest Hemingway. Nearly every movement of Ian Fleming's adulthood is covered. What is revealed is not a pleasant personality. Ian Fleming was a selfish, egocentric fellow who was very much a rake and a cad, especially in the years before World War Two. Scion of a wealthy family, he was a true-to-life example of England's decadent ruling class as much as the Marchmont family was in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.(Interestingly, Fleming's wife, Ann, was friends with Waugh though Waugh did not know Fleming very well when Brideshead was written). Lycett paints an unflattering portrait of this ruling class. The ruling circle which Fleming was part specialized in divorce, arrogance, selfishness, the lapping up of assorted luxuries. They lacked fidelity and self-discipline. It is also noteworthy that in the middle of the Depression, Fleming was so set in society that he seemed to be able to vacation at a whim and not lose his job. Fleming would have died a spoiled cad if not for the discipline of war, in which he served well as an intelligence officer. Egocentric as always, Fleming later claimed to have drawn up the blueprint for the American O.S.S., later known as the C.I.A.. During the war, Fleming fell in love with Jamaica. This love led eventually to Fleming's routine of writing a James Bond novel each winter at his place, Goldeneye, in Jamaica during his ordinarilly 2-3 month winter vacations. The James Bond pop phenomenon was slow to take off and by the time that it did, Ian Fleming's health was in severe decline due to years of a diet of cigarettes, large amounts of alcohol and greasy foods. The Bond novels will never be known as great literature but they are tersely written in fine, spare prose. The plots are usually ridiculous but, after all, they were to be fun books, not serious literature. Sadism is laced within many for Fleming was a sexual sadist. What is most fascinating about the biography is the chummy relationships within the British ruling class where Fleming would have the homosexual Noel Coward as his best man, rent Goldeneye to Prime Minister Eden after the Suez fiasco and Fleming's wife, Ann, would carry on an affair with Labor Party boss Hugh Gaitskill with Fleming's acceptance.

Lycett gives great insight into Fleming's character and also the world he lived and wrote in. Also, this book gives a great overview of World War II and the Cold War. I highly recommend this book to Bond fans and anyone else who enjoys reading about exciting persons, such as Fleming.

A slim collection of Bond short stories not published until after the author's death. Dealing as they do with greed, betrayal and conscience they are a worthy addition to any Bond aficionado's collection of stories about the man from 'the Ministry of Defence'.

'Octopussy' is the study of a man in decline, as one Major Smythe, wracked by guilt over a wartime episode, gradually loses his will to live. With his secret almost mercifully exposed by a stranger, he makes his exit in the most bizarre manner since Dr No himself.

'The Property of a Lady' is a real curiosity with the final action set inside the main sale room of Sotheby's, of all places. Here Bond, aided by the suitably ice-cool Faberge expert, Mr Snowman, attempts to expose a pay-off to a Soviet spy involving a Faberge 'Object of Vertu'.

'The Living Daylights' is a melancholy tale about a 'hit' that has been assigned to Bond. It is deemed necessary in order to allow an agent, '272', to escape unhindered across from Soviet occupied East Berlin. Bond is cooped up in a small, musty apartment with the rather officious 'Number 2' of West Berlin station and eventually falls foul of him when he hesitates at the last second as the identity of his target becomes clear. The two men make an interesting combination. In Bond we see a man still guided by humanity and in Captain Sender (Number 2) we see a man guided by nothing more than rules.

Three stories then to add to the already impressive litany of Bond adventures, and three stories that reveal more about the characters themselves than about any plot. As short stories they are unable to develop any kind of fast-paced, multi-faceted, globe-trotting battle between good and evil that make up the backbones of so many Bond adventures. However, in limiting themselves into looking into why people do the things they do and the consequences of actions they are no less interesting and thought provoking.

Just a quick note...this is an accessory for the James Bond Role Playing Game (like Dungeons & Dragons). It is not a fiction novel.

New to the statistical and methodological side of research in psychology I found this book a little difficult. That said, it was understandable. Clearly, the researchers were "standing on the shoulders of their forefathers" and at the same time engineering a piece of research which will make you (especially you non-psychoanalytics) think twice about the reality of a human unconscious. This validating piece of work will be of interest to advanced psychology and counseling theory students and researchers. One can skim the studies and get the gist of the design, procedures and results.

From Russian with Love narrated by an extremely talented voice is well worth the purchase alone. Dr. No didn't quite hold my interest when I tried to listen and I didn't even attempt to listen to Goldfinger but again I highly recommend this for the one tape alone, the Narration is incredible.

When I ordered this guide, I was expecting a format that was similar to the other Petersen bird guides. Unfortunately, this book is nowhere near as well organized. The plates are small, the artwork is not as good, and not all the species are illustrated. The text was also rather thin in life history information. If you are traveling to the Caribbean in winter and aren't up to speed on North American migratory singbirds, you will need to take an Eastern U.S. bird guide with you as well, as the numerous migrants that comprise the wintertime fauna are merely mentioned. I managed to identify most birds that I saw while using this guide, but it was a frustrating process.

Yea, The book could definently use some improvements, but overall the pictures did depict the birds pretty well. The only species illustrated {in color} are those endemic ONLY to the Carib islands. Any birds that are seen in the continental US are only given black and white drawings, and small descriptions. So a field guide and familiarity to eastern migratory birds are a plus! I am VERY dissapointed with the quality of the pages in the book. After a week in the Islands, mine looks worse than any of my regular guides! Bring a water-proof sleeve or something, because it's going to get wet! Not a bad book though, I had a lot of fun, and pretty much every bird you see tends to be a new species! Have fun!

Hard core 007 afficianados will notice a pile of 007 in-jokes that are scattered throught the latest Bond film, "Die Another Day". Among them: While in a Cuban office, Pierce Brosnan casually picks up a first edition of this book, which, as others have noted, is where Ian Fleming came up with 007's name. Better than available alternatives I suppose ("My name is Audobon - - John James Audobon..."

This seems to be some mesh left in a drawer and published just to make some more money. The stories are to short and don't give any depth or real interest in Bond, compared to the normal novels.

This was my first James Bond book, and so I didn't know what to expect. This book is all in all good. "Octopussy" is a good story, but, since it is lacking James Bond for most of it, it doesn't have the pace of the others. "The Living Daylights" is by far the best, with a suspenseful climax and interesting descriptions of drab Berlin. "The Property of a Lady" is not very suspenseful, but it was still a very good read. I am definitely going to read another Fleming soon!

Octopussy is a very good short story collection, though "For Your Eyes Only" was better, if you ask me. As Fleming proved in "FYEO", he can make a good story with little help from 007. The title story also proves this. In it, Bond makes little more than a cameo appearance. The main character is the power-hungry Dexter Smythe. His is obsessed with his pet octopus, which ends up causing his deliciously ironic demise. "The Living Daylights" is also very good. I like the ending to the story, but you already know what's going to happen if you've seen the first fifteen minutes of the "Living Daylights" movie. The book loses a star for "The Property of a Lady", which is dull. I advise a reader to just skip it. Despite one disappointing story, I enjoyed this book very much.