What a story! A remarkably easy to read account of Sam Goldwyn's rags-to-riches life. Did you know "Goldwyn" was not his real name? Did you know he was thrown out of the MGM company after a few years?! Goldwyn worked at some stage or other with just about every famous name in the business, and also fell out with just about everybody he ever met. A cantankerous and perverse character who loved contradicting people. When people quit because he made their lives intolerable, he sometimes felt personally attacked and betrayed. The book is full of colourful characters, and Scott Berg has done a wonderful job of using quotations and dialogues to really bring these people alive: Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Lillian Hellman, William Wyler, Billy Wilder, and the remarkable Hilda Berl. It reads like a movie! By tracing Goldwyn's history, the book also covers the story of many of the other famous movie companies that are still famous today: United Artists, Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, RKO and of course MGM. Goldwyn also came across many young actors and actresses before they were stars: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Marlon Brando, John Wayne, etc. And of course the famous Goldwyn malapropisms are here, though limited to the ones actually traceable (as far as possible) to Goldwyn himself: "Anyone who sees a psychiatrist should have their head examined! Include me out! A verbal agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on," to pick just a few.

A remarkably well-written and well-researched biography that brings this vigorous, infuriating, yet oddly attractive ugly duckling to vibrant life. This must rank amongst the best biographies, up there with Ron Chernow's book about the Morgans. Anyone at all interested in movies and movie history will enjoy this.

Great book! I enjoyed reading about a man who literally came from poverty to be on of Hollywood's pioneer filmmakers. He was a rough man to work with no doubt, but knew what worked and lasted in an industry that is hard to last in! A. Scott Berg did a wonderful job of writing a respectful book about this man!

A most compelling, intricate, mesmerizing, passionate, heartfelt and respectful account of Goldwyn's life! A. Scott Berg has created a profound work as equal an opus to any of Goldwyn's best stuff. The neat thing is that you feel as if you were there - the birth, growing pains and maturity of Hollywood - brutally recreated for our pleasure. Bravo!!

Mr. McDowell was as gifted behind a camera as he was in front of one. The photographs of celebrities are both thought-provoking and sensitive. Some are playful while others are intense. Now I'm looking for the sequel he published a few years prior to his death.

Having read Maria Riva's book on her mother along with Dietrich's own autobiography, I didn't really expect any new revelations from this book -- but I couldn't have been more wrong! Mr. Bach is to be congratulated on his fascinating and respectable work honoring Miss Dietrich and her life. What a remarkable performer and a remarkable human being. We could sure use a few more like her in today's world. This is a must read for fans of the Lady and the Legend!!

I read the hard cover book several years ago when it very first came out. My Grandfather had gotten it for a birthday present. I am now 30 years old and am finally going to buy it for myself. When asked what my favorite book to read is, I always answer "Master of The Game, by Sidney Sheldon". This book had me from beginning to end. And when the movie made for television was on, I had the book in my hands and my eyes on the television. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. I have yet to read a book better than this. :-)

I have read around 8 books for Sidney Sheldon, and Master of the game is the best among them so far.

This story if full of suspence, thrill, and life. The story's events started at the 19th century and ended up on the 20th century. Jamie was a very ambitious young man who was looking forward to be very rich and powerful person. He left to Africa like the others digging for the Gold and the Diamonds. He came across a horrible experience by meeting one the well known business men whome jamie seeked his assisttant and help. He ended up screwed and cheated and about to be killed by this man, but sooner Jamie recovered and took his revenge and became very rich ....(read more to see how...its a thrilling events)..

Kate was Jamie's only child who survived as her elder brother been killed and that been followed by her Dad's death. She lived with her mother and got married to her dad's best friend David. Kate inhereted all the wealth plus her dad's determination and stubborn. Her Company grew larger, cause kate used to have that great passion for the company and the Business world.

Tony, Kate's child, since his child-hood had that great passion for painting and wished that one day he would be a great painter. That was against Kate's plan for her only child who suppose to take over the company from her, so she decided to destroy his dream.... (this part is realy great.. reflect Kate's determination and well plan).

Tony got married and had twins. Eive and Alexandra, two adorable girls with extra ordinary beauty, but opposit characters. Eive was an evile person whome tried several times to kill her sister Alexandra who was sharing her everything and she hated that. Both of them ended up marrying doctores, but read the story to see the total different life they had lead...

On Kate's 90th Birthday.. she was still worried who is going to take over the dynasty she had made...is it going to be her Grand son Roberts (Alexandra's child)??

All the momories was flashing back at her..and still she was worried....

I was 15 when I first read this GREAT book. The hope of finding a book that captures my imagination and attention as well as this one did has made me an avid reader since then. I have reread this book about 5 times!!!! All of the characters are so memorable and interesting!!! This is the only book I have ever read that makes we wish that fictional characters existed!!(Except for Eve!!) I don't want to give anything away....so just trust me....IF YOU LIKE SHELDON BOOKS...THIS IS FAR AND AWAY HIS BEST. p.s. If Tomorrow Comes is his second best.

The Wolfen is a great showcase for the lycanthropy research Whitley Strieber seems to have done for this story, which in parts reads like an account of werewolf history, demographics and behavioral patterns. In fact, Strieber apparently has so much respect for the society of werewolves that he imparts to creatures greater intelligence and cultural richness than I have seen in any other horror story. An interesting and previously unseen (for me, anyway) aspect of this story is its narrative from the Wolfen's perspective.

It's too bad that this dedication to and admiration for his subject couldn't save such a lame story, though. The dialog between all of the characters is dull and contrived, and there are a lot of relationship twists that get introduced and never resolved. For instance the crush that older, cranky detective George Wilson has for Becky Neff is mildly interesting, largely unbelievable (a 20 year age difference, a surface level disdain for one another), and completely useless. So is the confusion Becky feels for her husband Dick, who is mired in a police investigation for being on the take in order to fund his dad's nursing home bills. There are feuds and mistrust among the officers, medical examiner, and researchers as well, that seem to serve no other purpose than to create strife, and to make Becky and George's seem like mavericks in their pursuit of the werewolves that only they believe in (with a minimum of proof, I might add).

To swallow the premise of this story, you pretty much need to believe that werewolves have been among us forever, including in our metropolitan areas, yet are intelligent enough to avoid human detection despite eating the weak among us (hobos, drunks, the blind, etc.). In fact, the Wolfen of the story would still be undiscovered were it not for an uncharacteristic errant attack on two police officers at the beginning of the story, and a series of absurd coincidences that eventually lead them into Becky and George's hands. The ending doesn't really solve much, either, and tries to pass off noncommittal as mysteriously vague.

Two hardened NYC detectives, with a complicated relationship, stumble across a series of brutal murders and mysterious disappearances. Assigned to the case, they find themselves on the trail of predators who have hidden themselves from men so effectively, they are mentioned only in terrifying legends. As the impossible reality dawns on the two detectives, they find themselves targeted by a pack of highly intelligent creatures that will do anything to protect their race. They are The Wolfen. And they consider humans easy prey... This is a classic take on the werewolf legend. I was 12 or 13 when the book came out and I remember it scaring the hell out of me. The novel is well researched and has a gritty modern day reality to it; from the details of police work to theories on animal intelligence and wolf behavior. Strieber's approach is very credible and very scary. I'll admit, I prefer my werewolves as traditional man/wolf hybrids, but this was a fun read and a must for horror fans.

I read Wolfen quite a few years ago,shortly after it came out in paperback.Not too many books have grabbed me and compelled me to read just one more page ,before I go to sleep.Needless to say ,I read the blasted book in one day till 3 am. The story is basically about a species of wolf,The Wolfen,that are the basis of the werewolf legends.They are a highly evolved species and you are allowed inside their pack ,you hear their thoughts,what makes them choose their kills. They attack with such speed,one character explains this by telling the two detectives ,if they saw a wolfen,your throat would have already been ripped out. As I said I read the book in one day and night,I had just put the book down ,when my dog came in and more or less indicated she had to go for a walk.In March ,at 3am,my luck,I looked under every car in the parking lot,jumped at every noise and couldn't relax till we were back in my apartment. I hope this book is published again,it really is terrific.Not at all like the movie.

This is my favorite science fiction book of all time. The Lieutenant is an awesome character - today's leaders could surely learn a thing or two about leadership and honor from him! Great story, well written, suspenseful and makes you think.

I have read many many books over the years and have found that the type of book I like best is one that entertains and teaches without preaching. _Final Blackout_ is such a book. The protaganist (known as The Lieutenant) teaches us a real lesson in integrity while the story is set in a classic Science Fiction manner "after the war." The auhor's style is extremely easy to read and displays the ultimate test of good writing -- when I was done reading the book, I found myself wondering how the sequel could have been written. I think you'll like this one ...

"Final Blackout" is a story about a war ravaged Europe that a small band of soldiers wade their way through. The group makes their way from the continent to England, and overthrows the military government there. However, the newly established government runs into trouble as a new foe moves in that threatens it.

This futuristic war novel by L. Ron Hubbard was first published in 1940 (serialized in 3 parts), in the pulp magazine Astounding Science Fiction. Nonetheless, the book could still be describing a post WW-III society.

This book reads quickly and is hard to put down for long.

This supposed horror book isn't a horror book. It's more like a description of an acid trip than anything else. A university professor, recovering from malaria, is fired for a controversial paper deriding idols and artifacts of certain gods. Apparently, this angers some spirits, and after seemingly losing a few hours of his life and his hat, he descends (literally) into a world of weird characters and doors and life forces involving his wife and best friend.

It's hard not to give away the plot, because the plot is only revealed in the end. It's basically a few huge extremely strange events in one book.

Even though the imagery is very good for this short, Hubbard's language is a little terse and antiquated to make it a quick read. Though overall pretty interesting, I would not recommend this, as I wouldn't know what to classify it as.

This is the only Hubbard word I have ever read, and most likely the only one I'll ever read; but this is not because this book fell short of excellent! This is a wonderful forray out of his standard genre, sci-fi, and into horror. I read this after reading numerous recommendations of it as a classic by the likes of Stephen King and Robert Weinberg, and was not dissapointed I did. This is a classic that I found disturbing and un-put-downable for the first few chapters, and highlly satisfying by the end. Quite a premise: a man loses 3 hours of his life. There are hints that suggest he did something unthinkable during this time frame, so he must now search for what happened during this timeframe. His search takes him on a very memorable journey and what he finds is truly horrifying. This is not a particularly long book--it is said he wrote it on a train-ride from California to New York--but it is very much worth reading.

If you're in the mood for a easy/fast reading and scary novel, then "Fear" is the book for you. "Fear" is by far the scariest book I have ever read and probably the best too. Once I started to read it, I couldn't put it down and read every time I had the chance, and in a day or two, I finished it. The novel is about a college professor named Jim Lowry who strongly disbelieves in demons and devils. He believes that they were created by witch doctors in order to control people by telling them that they exist in order to sacre them so the people would obey them. Lowry finds himself in a world of madness after he writes an article about his beliefs, loses his teaching job, and then abruptly loses four hours of his life. What happened to him during these four hours is what he searches for and slowly drives himself mad doing so. Lowry suffers an ironic fate during his quest to find his "missing" hours, and a twisted end waits at the end for the reader of this book. I urge anyone, other than the weak minded, to read this book if they are looking for a very short, yet thrilling novel.

This is the usual Sheldon, meaning that it has a rocket-fast pace, an excellent story, and crisp writing. The opening gambit is similar to "Master of the Game," but this isn't the mini-masterpiece that MOTG was. If you want vivid descriptions and characterizations then look elsewhere. This book is simply entertainment, but it's a great read.

The iron butterfly, as the main character is nicknamed, is a brilliant charachter. She is smart and a cut throat business woman. The book is somewhat slow in the beginning but picks up after that and makes you want to continue reading until the end. Once again, Sheldon puts in the suprise ending. I recommend it.

this is one of the best Sheldon has written. i love Lara Cameron (as i love Kate Blackwell in "Master of the Game" and Tracy Whitney in "If Tomorrow Comes"). Lara showed the many facets of a woman's strengths, and weaknesses. i know that she is fiction and too good to be true, but 'she' is not impossible. one time in my life, her character served as a great inspiration to me.

"The Stars Shine Down" is definitely a five-star!

(i lost the copy i bought, and read, several years ago. so i bought another copy. it's a good book to own.)

This started out ok. In fact, for the first several hundred pages, it was a fairly enjoyable read.

I was confused, however, when the plot was wrapped up two thirds of the way through the book. The story was over. What could possibly take up another 200 pages?

The story wasn't over. It really, really, really should have been, though. Really. Everything that happened after that was ridiculous, extraneous, and rather goofy.

New characters--nay, species of alien!--are introduced. A whole new plotline starts.

In fact, the book does this several times. It should have ended about 4 different times. The absolute worst, however, was the brand new, totally overwhelmingly important plotline that is introduced about 50 pages before the end of the book. Everything is tidily resolved in a whirlwind of implausible events that quite frankly insult the reader.

It almost seems like someone else finished the book for him.

It is also in the last parts of the book that L. Ron's anti-psychology views come out. The psychological stuff in the book is extreme beyond belief, totally evil, and really quite stupid. In fact, everything after page 600 was stupid.

I just read about 50 reviews on this book... and while I can sympathise with those who gave it bad reviews, c'mon already! This book might not be great literature, but that was never its point! I bought the book in the mid 80's, partly because it was the largest paperback book I had ever seen. It had some good reviews on the back, and I had the cash,(I think books that size were only 4.99 back then!), so I got it. And I could not put it down! Perhaps part of the reason was that I lived in Colorado at the time, where the first few hundred pages were set. However, the story itself pulled me in - true, there's not a lot of deep character development, this book is mostly action and plot and humor - a combination that I really enjoyed. The book did start to drag a little bit after the first climax, but then picked up again and kept me interested all the way to the end. I've probably read this book 7 times over the years now, and it never fails to disappoint me. Its probably my favorite *overall* sci-fi book I've read - again, its not great literature, but it is excellent pulp sci-fi adventure, accept it for that and you can't fail!

The movie, well.... the movie was terrible, having nothing much at all to do with what was in the book. I had wondered how they would be able to make a movie out of such a book, and the answer was they didn't - they junked all but the most basic premise and a couple of characters, and fluffed in the rest - and did a terrible job with it. About all the movie was good for was the special effects. (A note about the movie - John Travolta, he got slammed a lot for his portrayal of Terl, but I actually thought he did OK. Terl, as Hubbard created him in the book, was a half-crazed, paranoid egomaniac, which is how Travolta played the role in the movie... I thought he pulled it off alright myself)

The book is always fun to read. I've gone through it 3 times over 12 years. Each time I read it cover to cover, straight through. The style is deliberately over-the-top, and very humorous. Hubbard creates many outrageous scenes of high tension, bigger than life and melodramatic. It can't help but bring a smile to your face, as this book presents innumerable good vs. evil conflicts in the classic tradition.

The "Psychlos" are bumbling alien psychotics, so intent on guile and treachery they can't even grab a goo-food stick without provoking a knock down, drag out fight. Through sheer luck, they've stumbled upon technologies which empower them to rule most of the know universes (all 16 of them). The ponderous, overwhelming Psychlo bureaucracy, replete with the cruelest and pettiest, middle level paper pushers imaginable, sets up the perfect "evil empire" that Johnny Good Boy Tyler defeats at every turn, overcoming incredible odds and triumphing over treachery with intelligence, bravery, and unbelievable luck. The almost stereo-typical conflicts in the book are a basis for it's humor and entertainment value, given the author's talent for creating conflicts of epic, even galactic, proportions.

Although I normally read more intellectualy structured fiction, Hubbard somehow has the knack of creating an entertaining story that is fun to read despite it's intentionally low-brow approach. If you like funny, adventure/sci-fi, you will probably like this book a lot.

I liked this book more than the Hubbard "Dekaology". Battlefield Earth is pretty long, but generally holds my interest throughout. It's almost like (2) books, with an initial phase related just to earth, and a final phase, involving the 16 known universes. The Dekalogy in contrast had a lot of underlying bitterness, and was REALLY long, perhaps because Hubbard was near the end of his life, and his goal was to write the longest sci-fi book, not necessarily the best.

I can think of many "serious" sci-fi authors I prefer to L. Ron Hubbard, but I'm hard pressed to think of one who is more entertaining. I look at Battlefield Earth as equal parts Douglas Adams, Tom Swift, and Asimov. Hubbard is from the same generation of classic sci-fi authors as Heinlin, Clark, Asimov, et. al., but in Battlefield Earth, employs a more humorous and easy-going style, without the dated idealism and self-importance found in many older sci-fi classics.

This novel is a translation from a book originally written in French. Ken is the third author that attempted to translate this book into English. Visit the Ken Follett web site and learn the story behind this book. It's also titled The Heist of the Century and The Gentlemen of 16 July. Ken considers this book "a nightmare" that won't go away and he doesn't even recommend buying it.

It's fun, it's brilliant, the author as the main person are both geniuses and it's a true story