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 Now, he has been replaced by the fictional characters of Reginald Clarke and Hector Sebastian, and the illusion that Jupe, Pete and Bob might have been real people is gone.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.

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!

After reading these books, I became enchanted with the sea and sailing. My library has becaome a lot more nautically oriented, and I take partial credit for my local book-store stocking the S&A serries. =) Even today, I still will read them occasionally... Just to allown myself to forget about the present and be drawn into the most wonderful past imaginable. These are a must for any young reader, I have yet to find one that hates these books, and wonderful for adults, too. All I can say is buy them, you won't be disapointed. I just wish Ransome had written more.

This is the book I've used for years when reading this story to my own children, passing on Tasha Tudor and other illustrators. Why?

Although we can find the same poem and pay a lot more, with award winning illustrators, the illustrations provided by Douglas Gorsline are surely the best. They are quite colorful, and offer details little children love looking into...cats lie sleepily on the window sill, we see an overview of the town, the presents spilling from the open sack are intriguing and plentiful, and Jolly St. Nick is -- well, quite Jolly (as you can see by looking at the cover!)

The story is an "abridged version" - I'm not sure about other parents, but we read this on Christmas Eve, and we only have so much time and energy. Everything we remember from the classic poem by Clement Clarke Moore is in this version.

(From "'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" to "He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!" In between we have everything, from the names of the eight tiny reindeer, to a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly, including dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky".

In other words, don't be scared off by 'abridged'!)

Perhaps a hardcover edition might be more appropriate if you're giving a gift (unless you're giving to more than one child), but this book is one of the best offers we've found!

A classic done simply and inexpensively!

I have read the Life and Teachings six times, not just reading, but studying. What made me think that this is a truth? There is no scientific evidence to back this up? There is no mention of these things in the Wall Street Journal or in the New York Times? No matter where I looked none of these things were mentioned. Could it be a something within us that intuitively draws a searching person? The skeptics, critics, "unbeliever," that I knew did not stop my spiritual resolve and I persevered. For the first time was I thinking for myself.

In 1991 a book called "The Kybalion" and "Divine Pymander" came into my life and was a major puzzle in resolving the mystery of Life that revealed the laws and principles that enabled the Masters of the Himalayas to do the things they were able to do. My path in Life was forever changed because of the greater awareness that gave me mental poise and a firm direction in Life. For the first time was I able to live in the now and not be swayed by misinformation, skepticism, or even the malicious conduct of other people. I am not affected by political opinion. I can read and understand between the lines. Yet, I am able to maintain a flexible mind and not have to defend my opinions. My past was left to history and I was looking forward to the new teachings of Spirit. I am experiencing true freedom for the first time.

Why am I writing all this? It is not in the reading of books that a person will benefit, but what a person will do with it. Some people will read and life goes on in the usual manner, while others will take it to their heart and increase their Spiritual Knowledge and acquire true freedom and they experience true Spiritual development. They become changed persons. To the skeptic and "defender of opinions," Life will always be a mystery and they will always be stuck in their mundane world of materialism as a self made person and continue the struggle in their unawareness.

"LIFE AND TEACHING OF THE MASTERS OF THE FAR EAST" will give a person a reason to look into the greater realms of reality and if they will but "look," the answers will be surprising and refreshing. Scientific evidence and verification of these things is not possible at the moment because it has not completely unfolded in their field of awareness. However, science has made tremendous progress in revealing the structure of the Universe, which to the Spiritual aware person indicates that our "material" world as we are able to perceive it, is not as "material" as we think it is. In this view, we can understand why the Masters of the Himalayas travel effortlessly through the "invisible." They used a higher LAW that that for the most part escapes the collective race consciousness....

J. R. Seydel

Mention Jules Verne, and books that spring to mind are 20,000 Leagues, Around the World in 80 days, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. The Mysterious Island is one of his lesser known works, which is something of a mystery itself.

The book surpasses one's imagination and never fails to surprise. From the initial pages when Capt. Cyrus Harding and his friends decide to escape from a prison camp, the story seizes the complete attention of the reader, and unfolds at a pace and in a direction excelling Jules Verne's characteristic stories. The spirit and ingenuity of man is demonstrated in almost every page, as Cyrus and Co. find themselves marooned on a deserted island, and armed with only their wits, transform their desperate situation into a wonder world of science and technology. The reader is drawn into the adventure and finds himself trying to find solutions to the problems and obstacles that lie in plenty for the castaways, as Cyrus and his indomitable friends surmount myriad problems in their fight for survival. They are aided in their ventures by an uncanny and eerie source that remains a mystery until the very end.

This book cannot fail to fascinate and inspire awe in the mind of any reader. One begins to grasp the marvels and inventive genius behind the simple daily conveniences and devices that are normally taken for granted. The line between reality and fantasy is incredibly thin, and for sheer reading pleasure and boundless adventure, this book will never cease to please.

PS: The book has been adapted into a movie, which is one of the worst adaptations of any novel that I have ever had the misfortune of viewing. It is criminal to even mention the movie and the original work in the same breath.

He kept coming to mind as I was reading this incredible book, as the characters, stranded on an island with absolutely nothing, accomplished such amazing feats as draining a lake, making a home, building a ship, making an elevator, and a great many other things. There is excitement, suspense (what IS going on on this mysterious island??), and wonderful, likeable characters. Not a real well-known Verne book, but fortunately still in print, and one of his best and most entertaining.

(Incidentally, if you want a children's version of the same story, try to find "A Long Vacation" by Jules Verne, which is extremely similar in plot, but with younger characters and for a younger audience - very charming!)

By the way, please do read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea first, if you have not already done so. Evidently, Verne assumed that everyone had when he wrote this novel.

Great reading!

Everyone is familiar with Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues. For some reason, The Mysterious Island is not read as widely. Yet, in my opinion, it is Verne's best and most rewarding novel.

The opening of Myserious Island reads a bit like a serious version of "Wizard of Oz." Cyrus, Pencroft, Herbert, and Gideon, and a dog named Neb make a daring escape from a Civil War prison in a balloon, but the balloon is blown way off course to an uncharted volcanic island. These men are worthy souls; Captain Cyrus is an inspiring leader, Pencroft, an earthy but hardworking sailor. Gideon is kind of a "everyman" -- observant, strong and resourceful and loving, and Herbert a young, knowlegeable naturalist. These men and their dog Neb conquer the island's challenges and make the very best out of their isolation on the small island. But are they prepared for the surprises the island has for them--and the ultimate surprise in the second half of the book. The suspense keeps the reader turning the pages through a great deal of descriptive information about nature, chemistry, physics and engineering. This is classic Verne and what really put the Science in Science Fiction.

One reason Mysterious Island may not have developed the strong audience of the other Verne novels is that there is so much detail and scientific discussion. That is rough going if you have little interest in such subjects. There are abridged versions that cut a lot of the description, but frankly, the science is what I love best about the book. How Cyrus and company make nitroglycerin and use it to reshape their island home is one of my favorite chapters in sci-fi literature.

If you liked Swiss Family Robinson as a child, you would surely enjoy Mysterious Island. It's one of Verne's best works and deserves to be read.

'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' is the name of both the most popular portable comprehensive galactic encyclopedia, and the book that begins Douglas Adams hilarious space saga. It neatly sets up the tale by giving away the answer to the meaning of life! Don't panic, it's not all it's cracked up to be, because they don't have the question! We meet a great cast of eccentric characters, get to fly around on the 'Heart of Gold' (powered by the ludicrously simplistic Improbability Drive), and discover that planet Earth will be destroyed to make way for an interstellar roadway.

'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe' builds on the logic of the first book, and tweaks it enough to keep things really interesting. Milliways (the aforementioned restaurant) is a great comic creation, walking a grossly absurd existential tightrope to become a fascinating setpiece. There's a great moment about how Zaphod Beeblebrox's great-grandfather is named 'Zaphod the fourth' while he's 'Zaphod the first' ("An accident involving a contraceptive and a time machine"). The whole gang narrowly escapes flying into the sun, and are saved by a piece of specious bureaucracy. The whole mess ends with Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent landing on a familiar planet, and discover that evolution ain't all it's cracked up to be.

The strength of the first two books is that when Adams goes off on these incredible leaps in logic and flights of fancy (two of my favourite modes of transportation) they always seem to follow some kind of narrative thrust. In 'Life, the Universe, and Everything', they seem like non-sequiters, or at most just interesting tangents. I enjoyed the concept of the poem that was never written due to a reckless time travel expedition, and the guy who was injected with too much truth serum and now told The Truth. But they seemed more ornamental than consequential to me. Maybe I just didn't understand the plethora of cricket references (although I did get a kick out of them). Furthermore, the installment was hurt by a serious deficiency in Zaphod Beeblebrox.

A grand comeback is made in 'So Long and Thanks for all the Fish'. This manages to be a really touching love story, interlaced with grand questions about the nature of existence and what happened to all the dolphins. Arthur Dent and Fenchurch (don't call her Fenny) slowly but surely realize that the universe has a higher purpose for them, and they have no choice but to fall in love. And the scene describing their first consummation of that love is actually quite original, and very beautiful. That all being said, the story still manages to be a strong link in the overall chain of events, periodically keeping track of Ford Prefect until it becomes necessary for him to swoop in near the end (deux es machinas-style) and save the cosmic day. Adams also manages to include several more comic illogicalities (probably not a word, but whose rules am I following here?), the standout being the description of Wonko the Sane's inside-out house. A great little interlude, that.

'Young Zaphod Plays it Safe' is a confusing little mess, that I hope gains some meaning in hindsight, once the entire book is complete (**I've just finished reading 'Mostly Harmless', and I'm still in the dark over this one. Oh well.)

'Mostly Harmless' is a little less frenetic than its predecessors are, and a little more assured in its narrative structure. Its story is one of those that begins with three different plots, and as time goes on the plots slowly begin to converge into one final conclusion (kind of like an episode of Seinfeld, now that I think about it). Arthur and Ford get into some seriously mixed up situations, but they are perfectly explained through some more of that demented Douglas Adams logic. Ford actually jumps to his death, miraculously escapes, and then jumps again. And he has a perfectly good reason for doing it both times. My one complaint is that the book doesn't give each plot equal attention, so when you haven't read about one of the characters in a while, you tend to forget what they were doing when last you met them. On a positive note, the whole enterprise actually validates the mess that was 'Life, the Universe, and Everything'.

The series can be read in two ways: as comic fluff (albeit high comic fluff), or as a satire on the nature of existence. A third way, and probably the most effective, would be to read it as both. Or neither. Just read it!

I happen to love life with a passion and laugh near continually. I've never laughed as hard or as often reading than I did while reading this book. Never. Not even close. Imagine the person sitting next to you in a plane, seemingly without provocation, belly-laughs and can't stop. Then imagine it happening on a regular basis. You might wonder one of two things - when will he shut up and/or what is it that's making him laugh?

If you are at all curious why people laugh so hard so often and enjoy life so much...read this book. Please. No, really.

It's not just funny. If you can say 'just' and the type of extreme hilarity I mean in the same sentence without blasting the meaning out of the word 'just.' It's life Essential. I happen to love reading philosophy, eastern, christian, anything I can get my hands on. I'm so glad I got my hands on this collection. You finish the book and realize that you know a whole lot more than you thought you did about your world. Fortunately, a great deal of that knowledge consists of knowing you barely know anything at all. One of my favorite passages, to end...

'"Look," he said in a stern voice. But he wasn't certain how far saying "Look" in a stern voice was necessarily going to get him, and time was not on his side. What the hell, he thought, you're only young once, and threw himself out the window. That would at lesat keep the element of surpise on his side.'

...Please, for yourself and your happiness in life, read this book. If you come away and are anything but overjoyed to be alive...read it again. You must have missed something. =)

-Mike Fliss - mdf@duke.edu

I want to note that there are several editions of this great work and in deciding which to buy, be aware that each has a different translator. I feel Heffner's translation is slightly stilted but, he did such a wonderful job in editing this abridgement that it, nontheless, deserves 5 stars.

The translation flows very easily and is not distracting. De Tocqueville has a wonderful writing style that could pass today even though it was written long ago... so well readable and quotable that you get the picture of American life, morals, and an astute view of politics all rolled into one.

You get a view and meaning of American civilization, for America herself, and also for Europe. You can tell from reading. that this view is ever-present in De Tocqueville's mind as if he is a comparative sociologist. Yet reading this book you get the impression that De Tocqueville had generations of readers in mind.

As De Tocqueville noted, "It is not force alone, but rather good laws, which make a new govenment secure. After the battle comes the lawgiver. The one destroys; the other builds up. Each has its function." So true even for todays war. After you defeat your enemy you have to build up the infratructure just as Marshall and Truman both realized.

Reading this book you see the skillful eye of the author noticing and recording what he sees and he is impressed. I found this book to be of great import for the observations of America and hope that our educators use this book for teaching our children about the great country we live in.