Many full color pictures printed on Glossy paper. Hassome text describing how fireworks are made. A must for thosewho are interested in pictures and the name that goes along with the firework. If you enjoy many fireworks pictures, then this book is excellent.

I picked up this slim volume because it (a) was slim and (b) appeared from the cover that it might provide insight into the mind of Soseki Natsume whose work I was about to try. Hence, until I've actually read some more substantial works, I feel unqualified to review this piece.

The Tower of London consists of three parts: 1) an introduction to the history of the translation and the history of the Tower of London by Peter Milward 2) Soseki Natsume's fictionalized essay on his visit to the Tower and 3) Kii Nakano's commentary on the piece with regards to writing style etc.

As a piece to understand the workings of the author's mind, this is well worth reading - the interplay between fantasy and "reality" is very telling. This particular characteristic is used successfully and unsuccessfully (the maudlin scene of the mother). The highlights of the history of the London Tower selected for the flights of imagination are also telling ... to some extent reflecting his Shakespearan studies. All in all well worth having read but I wouldn't put it high on a "must read list" ... more like a backwater eddy to read if the whim stricks.