An art book that doesn't get eaten alive by its art direction, a self-guided tour of the artistic self promotion of the punk rock era. Kudos to the art director, John Susoeff, for not getting carried and burying the true stars of this book: The flyers. Brilliant.

An absolutely gorgeous book. Even if you don't [care] about punk rock, it would still be fascinating.

This is also an exceptional historical document. The history of the margins is lost so easily -- a book like this does a tremendous service to posterity.

As to the guy from SF who says that this book distorts history and gives "unnatural significance to marginal bands..." Well, it probably does, and so what??!! [....]

The first production from KILL YOUR IDOLS is a jamming book. They are working on a follow-up book to cover those influenced by early Punk Rock including more skate/surf Punk, speed metal and more. I hope it's as great as this.

Raymond Benson's James Bond Bedside Companion provides an excellent analysis of the entire James Bond series, including the films and the novels. This edition was originally released in 1988, and it has not been updated to the present. As a result, some of the information is quite dated. Of most notable development is the fact that Raymond Benson himself has since taken over as the author of the James Bond literary series.

Nonetheless, this is overall, an informative work. Benson provides a chapter on Ian Fleming's background. Of particular note is a chapter in which Benson pieces together the biography of the James Bond character. This is reminiscent of John Pearson's Unauthorized Biography of James Bond. Benson provides an excellent analysis of the James Bond novels. He identifies trends in Ian Fleming's writing nad points to specific examples of what he calls the "Fleming Effect." For hard core fans of the novels this section is excellent. Benson includes analysis of the works of Ian FLeming, Kingsley Amis, and John Gardner. Curiously, many of the apparent criticisms that Benson had of Gardner's work, he is guilty of committing in his own novels. The film analysis is also excellent. Benson provides detailed analysis of every film through the Living Daylights.

It should be noted that this book will probably not be of much appeal to the casual James Bond fan. Benson tries to provide an in depth analysis rather than focusing on the superficial. Of distraction to the hard core fan, are occasional factual errors that appear to be the result of sloppy editing. Additionally, the quality of the text and photos is generally poor. The formatting of the text is somewhat erratic with occasional omissions of glaringly obvious punctuation. The photos are all black & white. The photos are generally blurred. This appear to be the result of poor printing.

Overall, the quality of the author's analysis is generally educational and informative. However, the production of the actual book borders on shoddy. An excellent reference work for the hardcore fan, but if you're looking for color photos of Bond girls and gadgets, then you should look elsewhere.

If you're a fan of the movies or books but haven't ever read anything about them, this is the place to start. If you have read lots of other stuff, but not this, shame on you. You'll still learn a lot from The James Bond Bedside Companion, and you'll find that it is THE essential guide to all things Bond, books and films, all in one place. I have just about everything ever published on Bond in English (and that's a lot of books), and this is the one that I'll pull off the shelf first if I want to look things up. Every Bond fan should own it.

If you want only one book for your collection on the bond series this is it!! A masterpiece volume with great research and colorful themes by MR. Benson. My children are now reading this book and watch a Bond movie each month and refer to this book for details/information. Its great that this out of print book is available again for all to enjoy!! BOND JAMES BOND

I rather enjoyed this biography on Reginald Johnston. Despite what the other reviewer has said (quite funny), I doubt very much that Johnston would have been able to "mandhandle Pu Yi" as he must have been closely supervised by his minders, some of whom were eunuchs and may have had similar tendencies.
An uninteresting man, with ambiguous tendencies, thrust into the limelight just by rubbing shoulders with the last Emperor, Johnston did write a couple of travel books on China which are probably his more enduring legacy

If you want to find out what kind of a brainwashing, low down, good for nothing person Reginald Johnston is like, then you need to read this book. This old cockraoch constantly used the kid emperor for his own needs. Johnston taught the young emperor about homosexuality as Johnston was a homosexual. Johnston should go down in history for a child molester and thief of children.

I've been a Bond fan since my teens and have bought everyone as it came out in hardcover since Col. Sun. I loved Zero minus Ten and the Tomorrow Never Dies novelization. Facts of Death was great if you take away Felix's killer wheelchair, but this one? Taking pieces of Fleming's classics does not a Bond novel make. A golf match with the villain (see Goldfinger), a criminal organization with a secret mastermind (see anything with SPECTRE), and a major plot point out of Casino Royale. The spy on a mountain climb was done better by Trevanian and Desmond Cory back in the glory days of Bond. I realize this is the first of a projected trilogy(I understand if Benson wants to save Le Gerant for the climax of the trilogy), but it is no excuse for a lackluster villain whose main characteristic is obnoxious. We know he's the bad guy because he says "Chinaman", considered a racial slur, instead of "Chinese man" as Bond does. He also makes sexist remarks about betting a night with the female member of the expedition. As far as PC goes, Bond fails too--An affair with his secretary? Even Fleming's Bond kept it to playful flirtation with Ponsonby, Goodnight, and Moneypenny. But, of course, we need it to hang plot on. Like I said before, I've bought every Bond as it came out in harcover until now-this I rented from the library and will now wait for the paperback and buy it used. The rest of the trilogy will determine if I ever buy Bond again.

Benson's third Bond book takes a slightly different twist on the standard Bond adventure. Gone is the old formula and what remains is an author finding a comfortable writing style that reminds one of Fleming, while still being new and enjoyable.

Just like all the earlier Bond books, HTTK is a quick read, never really slowing pace too much. The first half of the book is a typically good Bondian adventure, but once the locale changes to Nepal, the book changes to a slower pace. Benson takes you inside Bond in a way that Gardner was never able to do. Bond's general dislike for parts of his job are felt, and his cold ruthlessnes shows why he survives.

In my opinion the only flaw to Benson's newest book is the uncomfortable discriptions from many of Bond's companions. Some seem to be little more than a recorded playing of a tourist book. Fleming could always get inside what makes a location tick, while Benson is just not there yet. Yet along side this criticism, I must say that I enjoyed the Doctor's talk about the hazzards of mountain climbing.

Although many will criticize Benson as being an amateur, his Bond books are well plotted and believeable. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy and wish Benson luck with his growth as a writer. While HTTK is an experiment in the 'Bond' style, it is much more succesful than anything Gardner tried, or Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me.

CHris

although I realized that mr. benson's first bond novel was not an extremely well-written effort, I must say I enjoyed it quite a bit; mainly because you could practically feel his excitement at being chosen to pick up where mr. gardner left off. some of the paragraphs were choppy and he used far too many exclamation points (!!!), but it was an enjoyable, escapist read and basically that is what bond should provide.

TFOD showed a more comfortable author and I was impressed with the progress mr. benson had made as a writer. the car chase, which criticized by many as being too similar to the movies, was extremely enjoyable and was probably the most exciting chase scene I have read. it is no mean feat to make a literary chase scene enjoyable, in my opinion...most film directors can't pull that one off. I really enjoyed TFOD.

and now comes the third "new adventure" of 007 and I feel it is quite apparent that mr. benson has been successful in further honing his skills and earning the responsibility of 'bond scribe.'

this book is a hell of a read!! the action scenes are great, the bits dealing with bond's personal life are fun, and the narration as bond climbs the world's third highest mountain is EXTREMELY effective. the reader really gets a sense of how much it would suck to be in bond's shoes this time around. great work there.

granted, to date, the Union is a rather faceless and anonymous criminal organization, but I expect that situation will change in the future. this was a wonderful effort that actually did contain many legitimate fleming-style touches to it. it has become commonplace to say that about mr. benson's work, mainly I guess because he often points out that he is trying to include these touches; however, this is the first time that I have found it to be true. They are in there without seeming forced or a parody, and that is an impressive feat. the conclusion of the novel is fantastic, like someone said here, very much in the style of Casino Royale.

anyway, great book, and since benson gets better each time, I am already looking forward to book number four.