With its long chapters, long paragraphs and densely packed small point text, this book is neither a quick nor an easy read. You cannot simply pick up this book in a spare five minutes and expect to polish off a section of a chapter - you'd be lucky to read two pages.

The reader will have to set aside significant time, sit down (with a drink), and take time to read and understand what is going on. To this reviewer, this spoils the whole essence of reading novels.

The book starts off with chapters alternating between the two main characters, Saturnino Barcena and Stuart Haydon. Haydon is a Houston detective, albeit with an affluent background and family connections with Mexico City. His life is interrupted by the daily receipt of a photograph that seems to hint at his families' past in Mexico. When he receives a photograph of himself taken the previous week with a trajectory line of a bullet entering his head added to it, he takes some time off and goes down to Mexico to try and work out what is going on.

Unfortunately, when he reaches Mexico City, things start to become increasingly confusing, both for Haydon and for this reader. There are a lot of characters who suddenly become involved in this part of the story, all of whom have connections with all of the others. Haydon seems to spend most of his time driving between the residences of these people, which quickly became very disorientating for me, trying to keep track of who's who and where they are in relation to each other.

I read another review of this book somewhere where the reader suggested that a map of Mexico City marked with the various locations referred to in the story would have been a great help in their understanding and I fully second that particular motion. I'm not sure how much a map would contribute to my understanding of this book, but it would certainly have helped.

Don't make this the first David Lindsey book that you read, as the two other books by this author that I have read ("Mercy" and "Requiem for a Glass Heart") are much better. I hope the other half dozen are too.

This is an exceptional novel. The writing is amazing, the story grips you from start to finish. Lindsey does an excellent job of capturing the feel of Mexico City. Its uniqueness transcends the novel. Mexico City is the star here, her allure remains long after her beauty has faded. Stuart Haydon is Lindsey's best protagonist and he is at the top of his game here. Be forewarned this book is not for the squeemish, but none of Lindsey's books are. If you are someone who enjoys great writing and riveting suspense you will not be disappointed.

Previous reviewer lucas (uk) needs to read more often. This is an involving and satisfying read and as with all of Lindsey's works the reader gains a real feel for the characters and for the complexities of human situations...if you're willing to take the time to get involved with the lives you're being introduced to. Am really looking forward to his newest...The Color of Night.

This small book is ideal for anyone who has read A Voyage to Arcturus, and who is intrigued and haunted, but confused. Wolfe explains many of Lindsay's motives (as far as anyone can know them), and gives concise summaries of Lindsay's other books. Personally, I have read Arcturus, The Haunted Woman, Sphinx, and The Violet Apple, and Lindsay's vision continues to mesmerise me, despite the clumsiness of his writing.

I thought that this book was very good. I loved the quotes from actual teen parents- I could really relate. The suggestions were very good. The only thing I didnt really like was that there wasn't enough focus on teen parents that were possitive.

SPHINX is a strange, romantic, fantasy novel by the mysterious Scottish author, David Lindsay, the amazing mind behind the supernatural romance, THE HAUNTED WOMAN and the metaphysical masterpiece, A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS. Devotees of his previous novels should track down SPHINX and read it, but others who are not accustomed to Lindsay should probably steer clear, or start with ARCTURUS. A copy of SPHINX is extremely difficult to find. I managed to obtain the 1988 Xanadu edition with the inroduction by Colin Wilson in a rare bookstore in London for a rather large sum. Good luck on your hunt. Perhaps because of the lukewarm public reception of ARTURUS when it was first published, Lindsay resorted to dressing up his metaphysical ideas in the trappings of the conventional British novel. In this respect SPHINX shares certain elements with THE HAUNTED WOMAN, but its plot is much more convuluted and the supernatural elements are employed even more sparingly. Without giving anything away, the plot concerns a young scientist, Nicholas Cabot who rents a room in a family's house in order to perfect his newly constructed invention. He has devised an ingenius machine which can record a sleeping person's dreams. He can then replay back the recorded dreams so that anyone can experience the dreams of the dreamer. The dream sequences are the most evocative and beautifully written in the novel and it's a pity Lindsay does not show us more of them. Instead, most of the book is devoted to the romantic intrigues of the women that orbit around young Nicholas: his landlord's pretty daughters, Mrs. Hantish, a beautiful widow, and Lore Jenson, a piano composer who has forsaken her artistic compositions for more lucrative popular music. The theme of an artist giving up his art for "what sells" is one that Lindsay certainly understands and it is a sore point with Lore as well. She is painfully aware of the choice she has made. It is also a choice Nicholas is faced with when he contemplates taking the lovely widow, Mrs. Hantish for a wife. The bulk of the book is taken up with the characters' convuluted machinations in which Nicholas allows himself to become a participant. Here, the novel begins to take on the aura of a romantic comedy of manners; a kind of amalgamation of a Turgenev soiree and a Jane Austen garden party without the wit. The story seems to become bogged down in clandestine trysts, snubbed neighbors, and secret notes "of the utmost importance." It all seems so unimportant, so trivial; the characters shallow, their motivations, petty. Giving Lindsay the benefit of the doubt, I must conclude that his purpose in all of this is to show that the actions of the characters in this real world are indeed trivial when measured against the events which occur in their subconscious--in their dreams. There is a deeper, more true reality which we cannot see, but which exists none-the-less, more important than our own corporeal existence. If this interpretation is correct then Lindsay set himself up an extremely difficult task. How does a novelist write about shallow people without putting off the reader? Although Lindsay is not entirely successful in the portrayals of the characters and the narrative mid-way through the book tends to become tiresome, the climax which takes the reader by surprise is all at once tragic, shocking, mystical and beautifully written. Despite the caveats I have mentioned, SPHINX, like Lindsay's previous work, lingers on in the imagination long after the reader has finished it like some potentous vision out of a half-remembered dream.

As a former FBI agent i enjoy reading authors perspectives on the FBI. Lindsay, also former FBI, spent alot of time developing characters and procedural drama. I found the book to be entertaining and very authantic, made me remember what it was like to work for the Bureua. Also entertaining was Lindsays' portrail of the relationship between agents and management was much like the bureacracy i worked under.

This is the first time I agreed with all the reviewers, whether they panned the book or loved it. No it wasn't well written, the bad guys aren't all going to grovel in front of the FBI, the rookie black agent and his romance are not well addressed, the black characters are either all good or all bad, all characters are pretty stereotypical with the good guys idealized and the bad guys demonized. and yes the plot is more like a series of vignettes that tie together too neatly at the end.

But so what? This is a fun book. It wasn't meant to be the Bard. The characters in the trenches are likeable and the witticisms are often hilarious (they almost steal the book). The FBI doesn't get a lot of respect these days and no wonder since the general impression is the administrators care more about improving their careers than removing crime and in so doing, all too often forget good case solving technique and procedure. However this book gives hope to those of us who want to have good feelings about the FBI, that there are those agents who believe in what they're doing, not solely about career advancement.

This book stayed with me a little longer than the typical 3 books a week that I normally read. I've read Paul Lindsay's subsequent books and they're an improvement over this book in terms of character and plot development. If you like this book, then you should get the rest of them. I've asked Amazon to notify me when his next book is out.

P.S. I hope the former FBI agnt who reviewed this book (and gave it a positive review and whose reviews of other books I enjoyed), had a spell check feature on his computer when he wrote reports in his capacity as an FBI agent.

This book was enjoyable. Don't go into it thinking it is Shakespere it is not. It is a great action book that keeps you guessing....

This is another of those silly books written, no doubt, by some middle manager who wouldn't know how to even begin to handle problems. Where do all these breauacrats come from?

This book is presents the "change" don't "improve" school of change management, and presents it well. The author starts with the management sage of our time: "Problem Solving Gets You No Where"... Peter Drucker. Then he moves on to explain why dramatic transformational change is so important.

What I really liked about the book was:

+ the author's tips on using metaphores in creativity,
+ the discussion how most management fads are just focusing on problem solving and not transformational change.
+ the use of humor in business (this was VERY GOOD).
+ how to analyze conversations.

On the negative side, the book appeared a little on the breezy side. Lots of cute remarks instead of substance, but overall I got so many good ideas from the book, that I have to give it a 5 ranking.

The author comes across as someone very knowledgeable and interested in your application of this information. There's a lot in this book that you won't find in others.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

This is a self-published book, and the production quality is not so good, if you are used to glossy hardcover books. However, it is jam-packed with excellent material and good examples to help - and guide - managers to explore their own - and their company's future.

The author has been a collaborator of Joel Barker, widely recognised as the Paradigm Man who wrote Future Edge (and an earlier book, Discovering the Future: the Business of Paradigms).

Just like Wayne Burkan who wrote Wide Angle Vision, the author further expands the paradigm phenomenon with more new business examples, insightful real-world observations and also thought-provoking ideas drawn from his own professional experience.

The author's writing is crisp, succinct and clear, and he includes several thoughtful questions at the end of each chapter for reader's reflective responses. I enjoy reading books that poses questions to readers. They make you think about what you have just re!ad, and also reflect on possible actions you may consider to take in your personal or professional context.

Together with Future Edge and Wide Angle Vison, I strongly recommend this book to be included in your personal library if you want to be a paradigm buster - to be precise, to be a strategic explorer.

The author's other book, 'Get Out of Your Thinking Box' is also worth exploring.

I read this book years ago, too, and actually there is an apple in the tale contrary to the previous reader's recollection . . . an ingenious device really, an heirloom handed down from the time of the Crusades turns out to contain a pip from the original apple in the Garden of Eden. The hero, a horticulturist, goes to all kinds of pains to cultivate it, and guess what happens next . . . .

The Violet Apple is not an easy read, neither is the other difficult novel in the volume, The Witch, which is even more cumbersome. But if you were moved by Lindsay's classic Voyage to Arcturus, consider this book a kind of pilgrimage--the journey is its own reward, and the sack cloth feels like silk at the end.

It was years ago, but what I do recall is that the story had to do with a house, with a room in which one was transported to another world, as if into another dimention. There was no witch or witches or apples at all and had nothing to do with them. Not as ingrossing or adventerous as "A Voyage to Arcturus", but a good read. A better-read than "The sphynx" though.

I struggled through the interminable descriptions of stench, of fountains bubbling in the background, of statues, wrought iron gates, you name it, Lindsey can write two paragraphs on it.

After 80 pages, I started skipping the paragraphs that were desciptive filler. I gave up by chapter 17.

If ever there were a book that would make me believe the author was being paid by the word, it would be this one. Had some of those words actually created a spark of interest in the characters, I might have pressed on.

Perhaps Lindsey has written better books. Too bad this was my first encounter with his writing. It will be my last.

How could a book like this be published? Yes, He has been to Guatemala. Yes, He knows the structure of the city precisely. Yes, He invested his time and money preparing for the novel. DOES THAT MEAN I HAVE TO THREAD THROUGH ALL THE DESCRIPTION ABOUT THE CITY FOR MORE THAN 300 PAGES? He wrote pretty well at the beginning. But as the story went on he lost balance and wasted too much effort on city and landscape description. DON'T TRY TO READ THIS ONE. NEVER!

I can't quite understand the negative reviews this book seems to be getting here. I think it may well be the best thriller I've read. I've spent a fair amount of time in Guatemala, and I'd say Lindsey may overstate the menacing atmosphere a bit, it is hard to look at Guatemala's recent history and fault him for this. A great book.

Having grown up in Coney Island I found this effort to be extremely substandard. This book takes the most uninteresting pictures of the most uninteresting individuals that I can imagine. Mr. Stein would have done much better to find alot more of the old timers who truly represent the feel and atmosphere of What Coney Island was, not so much the depressing delapidated dangerous neighborhood that it most unfortunately has become. He did not look hard enough to find what is truly representative of the Coney of lore, because had he done so, it's still there, just difficult to unearth. The pictures of the parade just shows how far down Americas greatest playground has gone. Do yourselves a favor and go to the library and pick out any number of other books on Coney Island and then compare. Unfortunately, you might become meloncoly and saddened, for Coney is really just a microcosm of what has become of this nations great cities.

I was EXTREMELY disappointed with this book. The title is VERY misleading. THIS IS NOT A BOOK ABOUT CONEY ISLAND!!! This is a book about carny people and Stein took the sleaziest most unattractive pictures of them. I know Coney Island. I lived there for 15 years and still visit annually. There is history of amusements and cultures that are not captured in this book. Out of 80+ pictures, there are only 3, including the cover wrap, about the attractions of Coney Island. The rest is a picture book of people. If you are looking for a nostalgic journey about Coney Island-SAVE THE RETURN COST & FORGET ABOUT THIS BOOK!!!

I love this book for the way it captures the feeling of the place. While it is not full of text about Coney Island, it is full of visual and emotional information. I am an ex-New Yorker and have a few books I turn to when I feel homesick, this is one of them.