Reading a passage of this book is like sitting down to coffee with a wry, friendly time-traveler who has seen everything and is excited to espouse the good parts. Gold's style of prose is jaunty and deliberate- there are sentences that glow with creative genious. It seems that Gold has found the perfect balance between historical descriptive narrative and philosophical meandering. He never strays too far from his story. In the middle, there is a devastating passage where he takes his girlfriend up to William S. Burrough's hotel room. There are other writers up there and it is a hilarious scene. I won't ruin it for you.
The best aspect of this book is the intimacy Gold has with the great writers. He has hung out with James Baldwin and Burroughs and Miller and Ginsberg. He also describes scenes with Anais Nin(not that she is one of the greats) and Henry Rollins (but he keep referring to him as Henry ROBBINS when it is obvious he's talking about Rollins, I don't get it) and thereby invites you into this fascinating world of artists and anarchists that entices and beguiles. I was both enticed and beguiled. There are so many great quotes in this book you'd better have a pencil and notebook handy- there is stuff a writer can really learn from- by Saroyan, Ferlinghetti, Dylan Thomas, painters, musicians, beautiful bohemian women. The point of narration moves from San Fransisco to Jerusalem, from Paris to South Florida, from the east village in New York to the furthest reaches of nowhere. I discovered that BOHEMIA is not the amorphous idea I thought it was- but a vast physical entity which has no boundaries at all but lives on forever in ever-changing pockets of earth. This book is quite the thrilling ride.

Herbert Gold has provided us with a history of Bohemia. He deals with Greenwich Village, San Francisco, Berkeley and any other place where the Bohemia mentality reigns supreme. This is a grand exploration of great artists, poets, thinkers, anarchists and dreamers. He presents the argument that Bohemia is ultimately a state of mind. You may be in Paris or Chapel Hill or Prague but you can descend into your own private Bohemia. There is discussion of the Beats and hippies, of course, but also of Paris in the twenties. He discusses Israeli bohemain Haim Hefer and French chanteur Serge Gainsbourg. ( I obtained a longtime fondness for Gainsbourg music from curiosity after reading this book. There are many unheralded madmen and women that get their fifteen minutes of fame in this book. It is a thrilling ride through a state of mind that ought to be more prevalent than it is. I felt excited to be alive after reading this book. The exaltation with life intensifies everytime I browse through this book. It goes well with ginseng tea, espresso, whiskey or beer. It is a great companion on bus rides and train ventures and it reads well on the beach. Herbert Gold finally gives due credit to the fine art of lazing around and dreaming away.

I have owned this book for 15 years and I think it is an excellent reference book for jewellers and metal smiths. It covers all types of metal work including gold and silversmithing, jewellery, stone setting and enamelling using traditional techniques. Written by Herbert Maryon O.B.E., who was one of London's best gold and silversmiths.

First of all your ideas are not well founded since you did not live in Haiti long enough to place a judgement or an opinion.Your grounds are very weak when you see only one part of Haiti. Being like a horse on a race track, the author is only focusing on what you may consider the worst, I would like to know when writters are going to start publishing the right stuff about a third world country.

This is an amazing book. I have traveled to Hait 5 times, my longest stay being four months. This book made me feel as if I was back in the country I love so much. I would recommend this book to anyone who's heart has been grasped by this country.

This is one of the most compelling book that I ever read about Haiti. Mr. Gold is funny and objective. One could feel his love for Haiti popping out of the pages; he is not just another foreigner out to make a quick buck. Although his experiences in the book were limited to the capital, he gave a vivid account because he was in the thick of things. When I checked with family and friends on the veracity of some of Mr. Gold's claims, he seemed to have hit right on the money. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Haiti.

I know I should be raving about this book because Herbert Gold is my Grandpa, but I started reading this and I found it boring. I guess partially it was boring because it was aimed at an older audience, but I don't know. I think you should buy this book, because people that I have talked to who have read it enjoyed it.

PS: Hi Grandpa!

Many of these 33 stories will be familiar to one steeped in British fairy tales, but some have been forgotten and are printed here again with very satisfactory illustrations. "The Lambton Worm" tells how the young heir of Lambton Castle caught a loathly worm which grew and grew through the years until it was the scourge of the whole countryside. When the heir of Lambton Castle returned home from the Crusades, he met the worm in a fearsome battle. Robin Goodfellow and Tom Hickathrift are both characterized for us here.