It does not matter if you all ready are a "fort-geek" or some one, who just want a book on the topic: This book will for sure please you.

"The Medieval Fortress" is a nice big (app. 11" x 8.5" or 28,5 x 22 cm), 319p. book, which covers the development of fortified places through out Europe and North-Africa from the early to the late middle ages - when the forts had their glory.
The book is built up of five main chapters. The First deals with the elements of a fortification; the Second deals in general with the different kind of fortifications in different parts of Europe (Islamic, Byzantine, Frankish, British, Norse, Slavic and Magyar (Hungarian)); the Third does the same, but with emphasis on the emerging castle; the Fourth chapter introduces gunpowder and the decline of the high castle walls through the description of several sieges (Constantinople, Rhodes, and siege of fortifications during the Reconquista); Chapter Five goes in depth with some selected fortifications in Europe: Some of the more famous ones and some more obscure. The reader is guided through fortifications/castles in Great Britain, Ireland, France, Low Countries, Switzerland, Holy Roman Empire, Scandinavia, Central Europe (present day Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovenia) Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Eastern Mediterranean, Italy, Spain&Portugal, and North Africa. The appendixes gives the names of some more important builders and architects and their titles in different languages (French, Portugese, Spanish, Duch, Sweedish, and Russian), a chronology of important sieges from 623 (Constantinople) to 1529 (Vienna), a history of medival artillery and a glossary.
There are endless amounts of B/W pictures alongside with even more B/W line drawings and plans of forts, just like on the front cover of the book.

This book is a very good buy!

(Review based on First DaCapo Edition, 2001)

If you liked Sydney Toy's book on Castles, you will love this one. Covering the earliest origins of castles to their decline at about the time of the Rennaisance, this book is a must-have for anyone fond of castles or interested in the middle ages. Although it has only black & white pictures and other books may contain a larger number of castles, this book is incredible in its scope of the subject and covers much history of the important castles and towns of Europe in the middle ages. Reading about this history and seeing pictures of the fortresses & towns gives me a feeling of how it was like to be there. I now have a wish-list of ancient towns & strongholds I would like to visit. The book has many 'basic' floorplans of castles & towns as well as rough maps of the regions talked about. Enough info for many book reports; great for design ideas since the coverage spans hundreds of years & styles of construction from All over Europe.

The Medieval Fortress: Castles, Forts And Walled Cities Of The Middle Ages is a superbly researched and presented historical survey of the castles and other walled defenses of medieval Europe. Fortification specialists J.E. Kaufmann and H.W. Kaufmann explain the origins and evolutions, compositions and components of these structures, along with their offensive and defensive strategies, weapons, and modifications. The informative, photographically illustrated and engaging text is enhanced throughout with technical artist Robert M. Jurga's illustrations, detailed technical drawings. The Medieval Fortress is an enthusiastically recommended addition to any personal, academic, or public library medieval studies reference collection or reading list.

Henry David Thoreau wrote, "It matters not how far you travel, but how much you are alive," and Jim LeMonds, a former English teacher of mine in the small "mill-town" city of Longview, WA embodies this phrase in his tight, solid prose and compassionate understanding of the area and it's people. For anybody to understand the psyche of this area, the Pacific Northwest, I recommend not only living here and listening, but also a cold plunge into the severely deprived art scene and it's few vibrant sectors. Jim LeMonds, in South of Seattle, provides us with one of these. My favorite essay was Scripture For The Land, for it's sheer intensity and truths.

Jim has captured the life of small town America. More precisely small town Pacific Northwest where the largest employer is the lumber companies and the county fair still attracks the whole town. Jim brings to light some of the hardships and personal obstacles that impede the daily lives of even the most simple lives. The memories that Jim shares will most definitely make you laugh and may even bring you to tears. An intimate exploration of a great geographical area.

I am a former English student of the author of "South of Seattle," and not only is this man an exceptional teacher, but he is the only writer of my acquaintance to so vibrantly capture the spirit of life in the ever-growing Pacific Northwest--roots, leaves, rain, et al. If you want to experience a small lumber town and are unfourtunate enough not to have been born and raised there, then take your next best option as an outsider and read this book. This journey through time and terrain is all the more meaningful due to the obvious love the author feels for his topic. Don't miss this one...

Robert Weinberg is one of the most talented authors writing in the horror fantasy genre today. Dial Your Dreams is an impressive and welcome anthology showcasing fourteen of his stories, -- some new, some vintage. Strongly recommended reading for fans of the genre, these timeless tales including Ro Erg; Endure the Night; Three Steps Back; The Midnight El; Terror by Night; The Apocalypse Quatrain; Seven Drops of Blood; The Silent Majority; Unfinished Business; Riverworld Roulette; Wolf Watch; Chant; Elevator Girls; and the title piece, Dial Your Dreams.

This is one of my son's favorite books. He liked the popups, and after a couple of readings he started watching to see where the mouse was on each page. He calls it his "mouse book."

It was a REALLY neat adventure. I liked it alot.

This book is the most well-written book on ghosts I've ever read. The author's general story-telling style can easily captivate the reader and leave him wanting more. The author is obviously well-read, a scholar who is very eloquent, and a splendid writer. His tales are memorable and haunting, not only because of the subject. His characters and their stories will linger in your mind. I've read many ghost stories, but this is the only book (on ghosts) I choose to own.

Our Young Adults pastor and his wife recently organized this event for our young adults group at our church. This isn't a book, but an interactive mystery game, where each or the participants were guests at Vold Castle for a dinner. A murder is committed and each guest is a suspect. As participants, you interact with the others and try to solve "who dun it?". This turned out to be a four hour event that was reminiscent of staring in a old 30's movie, complete with costumes and props! Great fun and it had a strong Bible lesson interwoven within! Cheers to Pastor Shean and his Wife Angie who organized this event.

Wow. I'm 33 years old and thought I am probably the only adult who would pick up a Three Investigator's book and read it. I am here looking for some of The Three Investigator's books for my girlfriend's son. I saved a few of the books I had as a child, a couple of them in hardback, with the intent of saving them for my children. Most of the books I read in the series I checked out at the library. Reading these books provided some of my fondest childhood memories. The young man I am buying these books for has just discovered a love for reading and I believe that these stories will hook them just like they did me. Amazon, please act upon the suggestions of others and release the entire series if possible.

The Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series was the best juvenile mystery series I ever read, and is of such high quality that I can still read and enjoy it as an adult. In fact, I only need "The Mystery of the Cranky Collector", the last book in the original series, to complete my collection.

For far too long these books have been out of print, though I understand they're still being published in Europe. With their return, a whole new generation of readers can thrill to the adventures of Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews.

In "The Secret of Terror Castle", Jupe, Pete and Bob, whose motto is "We Investigate Anything", investigate an allegedly haunted house in order to prove their mettle. Author Robert Arthur not only gives the boys distinct personalities, rather than making them "types", he also has them conduct their investigation in a logical, methodical fashion, even as they deal with a trouble maki! ng rival. He also plants clues throughout the text to give the reader a sporting chance to solve the mystery.

Arthur and his successors further respected their readers' intelligence by making the endings of the books logical developments of the stories, rather than coming up with a contrived solution. Granted, the means by which Jupe, Pete and Bob become involved in "The Mystery of the Silver Spider", a later book in the series, is a bit contrived. However, that story is also good, and throughout the series as a whole, the writers don't talk down to their readers.

Readers of the original hardcover editions may remember an illustration on the endpapers that depicted Hitchcock in profile behind a spider web on one page, while the facing page showed Jupe, with magnifying glass, Pete, with tape recorder, and Bob, with a home made walkie-talkie, making their way through a cemetery at night. That drawing exuded an atmosphere of mystery, and Random House might want to! consider duplicating it, sans Hitchcock, of course, in the! current paperback reissues.

In fact, Hitchcock's absense is the only negative aspect of the revised version. He added a touch of realism, because he was a real person. Now, he has been replaced by the fictional characters of Reginald Clarke and Hector Sebastian, and the illusion that Jupe, Pete and Bob might have been real people is gone. This is a minor point, of course, and doesn't affect the stories themselves.

At least not until the series gets to #31, "The Mystery of the Scar-Faced Beggar", the first post-Hitchcock volume. Jupe, Pete and Bob meet Hector Sebastian for the first time in that story-- a meeting which is central to the plot. I hope the series will continue to sell, so we'll see how that problem will be addressed.

Better still, I hope Random House publishes new adventures after the old ones have been reprinted.

At one time I used to own the first 23 titles of AH & The Three Investigators. As I've grown older, I've lost titles until I recently realized I only had two left. I've lamented to my wife, after searching used book stores high and low for the other titles and not finding them, that this was a great blow against childhood reading. I was so glad that they are still being printed and read! The format may be different and Alfred Hitchcock is lamentably missing, but they are still as readable and enjoyable as they were when I was a child!

I highly recommend this series for young readers who dream of adventure and suspense. They invigorated my youth and helped interest me in reading and writing. I hope to God that there are more coming out!

And for those of us who remember Alfred Hitchcock, maybe Random House could put out a collectors series of the books as they were originally released - covers, illustrations and all. I would certainly snap them up!

MOON ON THE WATER is like a meal with a delicious first course, while the rest is bland and tasteless. The collection starts off with some very good stories: a dying robber thinks of his father during his last moments; a delusional man spends half his waking hours in a fantasy world; a child's jealousy of his newborn brother grows; a man entertains a little girl who may or may not be his own. Most of them are short, and they have a satisfying bite to them.

After these, the book takes a different track. There are a few gems buried in the remainder, but too much of it consists of confused, disconnected ramblings. Many of them, even the straightforward ones, simply left me shaking my head. In addition, a number of stories couldn't be classified as horror even under the broadest definition, though I wouldn't have minded if they'd been better. Overall, a disappointment.

One story in this collection alone is worth the price of admission. "The Running Horse, the High White Sound" is one of the best stories I've come across in years. I won't spoil it for you, so you'll have to trust me. But it really got to me. On the other hand, there are stories that simply left me scratching my head wondering why they were even included in the book. You could skip "With Father, at the Zoo, then Home" and "FDR: A Love Story" and not even feel bad for doint it. But don't you dare skip "A Someday Movie". Buy it. I don't think you'll be sorry.

These aren't really "horror stories" per se, but tales laced with dark humor and subtle psychological horror. Castle is indeed a master of the short story; this being my first time having read him. He is adept at describing real life in everytown USA.

"If you take my Hand, My son" is one of the better stories about a son thinking about his dead father in a coma and a terrifying conclusion. Kind of like G'n'R's hit song, "Coma."

"Buckeye Jim in Egypt" is another tale that is awesome. It talks of our society, racism, and the story about a wandering man with supernatural powers.

"Moon on the Water" is the title story and is an interesting read about jazz musicians who become entwined with a rich girl with an adrenaline rush-attitude. A good story.

"Altenmoor, Where the Dogs Dance" is also an interesting read about a boy and his grandfather who know about the afterlife.

A solid collection from a great writer!!!

This book is a fantasy by one of the greatest living Science Fiction writers. In this it fails
: that is is wordy; that it over uses devices like man eating plants and strange aliens.
It has a good fairy tale plot of a prince who is unjustly deprived of his crown
by magic ( science?). The treatment of Juggling has a pop culture ring to it.
Dreams as sendings by amplified thoughts is also a popular genera.
It is still a very good book, but I found myself skipping long very wordy discriptive
passages. But not as much as the first time I read it...

I recently picked up "Lord Valentine's Castle" in a used book store, and was very pleasantly surprised. This book is at least as good as (although stylistically different from) the works of Robert Jordan, L.E. Modesitt, and the other leading lights of contemporary fantasy fiction. Author Robert Silverberg writes with a texture reminiscent of such diverse works as the Wizard of Oz books, Lovecraft's "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath", Zelazny's "Lords of Light", and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan". Silverberg also pays homage to Robert Heinlein with the title character Lord Valentine, whose name (among other things) is an allusion to "Stranger in a Strange Land".

If you like high fantasy, or any of the books or stories noted above, please give "Lord Valentine's Castle" a try. One sentence of caution: the protagonist begins this novel in an amnesic state of zen detachment, and his character and relationships build gradually. I put the book down after 10 pages on the first occasion I tried to read it (about a decade ago). Persevere -- it's well worth the effort. Besides, since "Lord Valentine's Castle" was written in 1979, there's already 20 years of sequels published and waiting for you!

I first read Robert Silverberg's amazing novel "Lord Valentine's Castle" many, many years ago, but his superbly drawn world has remained with me. Re-reading the book reminded me why I initially fell in love with it. LVC is an interesting, almost hybrid sort of novel: it is a work of science fiction that has the feel of an epic fantasy novel.

LVC takes place thousands of years in the future on the distant world of Majipoor, a gigantic world with a population of 20 billion people of many different species: humans; the three-eyed Liimans; the four-armed, "Bigfoot"-like Skandars; the planet's shapeshifting aboriginal folk; and more. Silverberg brilliantly evokes the history, geography, zoology, botany, politics, and architecture of Majipoor, a world of great strangeness and great beauty. The plot takes Silverberg's hero on an epic quest across this richly imagined world.

Along the way are some amazing sensations: a view of the crystalline Ghayrog city of Dulorn, a taste of sea-dragon milk, and more. Silverberg addresses many relevant issues: memory, bigotry, responsibility, leadership, and the terrible burdens of history. The art of juggling is a fascinating motif that distinguishes the book. And the whole story is enlivened by Silverberg's superb writing style: accessible and contemporary, yet with a timeless, classic feel. "Lord Valentine's Castle" is a triumph by a master of the fantastic.