Victor Mollo's books are simply the most entertaining Bridge books available. The reader is able to identify and relate to each of the characters. Everyone knows a Hideous Hog, Rueful Rabbit, Secretary Bird, and Walter the Walrus. We see these characters every day during Bridge sessions. Mollo has quite the knack for bringing out all of the human qualities expressed at the Bridge table. These series of books are a great read and will forever be considered classics.

The 4th dimension is the human factor in bridge. This book is the funniest book on bridge and one of the best books I have ever read (including non-bridge too).

A true classic of contract bridge fiction. Not only will you be entertained but you will learn something as you peek into the world of Mollo's mythical bridge club. All the players in the book are animals but easily connected to personalities you have seen first-hand at the bridge table. The Hideous Hog (master, know-it-all), the Rueful Rabbit (he knows his skills are not the best, but somehow he always manages to do the right thing -- even for the wrong reason), the Secretary Bird (enforces the letter of the law, usually to his own downfall), Walter the Walrus (so caught up in point count that nothing else matters), plus many more. You will find yourself and your partner in this book somewhere. A great read and a great gift for your bridge playing friends. Mollo is my favorite bridge author.

If you buy only one bridge book in your entire life, this should be it. It is written with such skill and humor that it reads like a novel... not only will you learn a tremendous amount from this book, but you'll enjoy yourself in the process. The chapters alternate between Dummy Play and Defense, covering everything from promotion to grand coups. Players of all levels will benefit from reading (and rereading) this excellent book.

This is the best book EVER written on declarer play AND defence. And the way the author deals with the same topic alternately from the point of view of declarer and defender makes this book that much more useful. Considering when it was written (more than 40 years ago - this is a reprint), I'm still amazed by how well this book is organized. Principles are explained clearly and illustrated beautifully with sample hands. Each chapter is followed by a quiz (do take the time to try and solve the problems). The presentation is concise, witty and informative at the same time. Very easy to read, and just as useful today as when it was first written. Almost every good player I know has read this book many times.

I must say this book puts to shame the only other comparable "classic", Watson's Play of the hand, which has a tendency to be long-winded. The difference here is that Victor Mollo is a genuinely great writer who knows how to entertain while teaching.

Part of the fun of reading this excellent book is watching your own play improve just from reading. If you go a step further and use a deck of cards and deal out the hands, you will gain even more insight into the intricacies of the world's most difficult card game. The chapters of the book alternate: first a chapter on play of the hand, then a chapter on defense. The result is that there is a linkage between the two parts of the play, with one chapter demonstrating how to make a particular type of play and the next showing you how to thwart it. If you play bridge, you owe it to yourself to read this classic.

This book was one of the first bridge fiction books I read when I started to play this game. It still rings true 20+ years after its first release. Mollo takes the reader on a trip to his imaginary bridge club and introduces all the regular players. A must read for any die hard bridge player. The sequeal Bridge in the Fourth Dimension is equally as good.

The better known Card Play book by the same author with Nico Gardner, can be a bit tedious. In contrast, this book makes a great gift to the advancing beginner. The illustrations are witty, and the text lets you arrive at a rubber table (usually late) as an auction is in progress, to follow the action. By the end of the book the reader is led to advanced play, just enough to titillate. Mollo covers important bidding strategies without the pontification of a Goren, the terseness of a Reese or the razor-edge analysis of a Kelsey, a redeeeming quality that makes for a pleasant, instructive and memorable read, whether you are a dyed-in-the-wool 4-card majorite or a Standard American fan.

If, like me, you are a fan of the "Card Play Technique" book by the same author, you will want to work your way through this book to practise what you learnt. If you haven't read that book yet, you are seriously missing out. No one can become a serious bridge player without reading "Card Play Technique" (see my review on the book).
This is written in Victor Mollo's unique style. The hands are not the exotic hands you see in books written to entertain (like "Bridge in the Menagerie", another favorite). Instead the hands are the kind you see everyday at the bridge table. Going through these books has helped me immensely; not only in improving my technique, but also in recognizing which technique to apply to the hand being played. Being able to do this at the table is really what separates the great bidge players from the rest of us!

Another masterpiece in this series of bridge stories featuring all the great characters of the Griffin's Club, particularly, the Hideous Hog and the Rueful Rabbit. The stories are loaded with humorous situations and outcomes.

Possibly the best was how the Griffin's became the only club in the world that restricts its membership to men only but is open to women. This in turn leads to the introduction of a great new character "Molly the Mule".

Highly Recommended.

victor molo is back. inspite his death a few years ago, victor molo, the best bridge writer ever, has left us this final book, upon which we can enjoy his wittiness to the full. this book is to my opinion (and i read all the "menagerie" serius) the funniest one. the hands might have been more amazing in past books, but the wisdom and humor were never better. this is a "must" for all bridge lovers, humor lover, and molo adorers. hog this book to yourselves now!

The second in Robert King's continuation of Mollo's classic series, this book marks a bit of a shift in focus. All the old favorites, the Hog, the Rabbit, Papa, Karapet and so on are still prominent, to be sure, but this edition sees them joined in the upper ranks by King's new character, the lovely and talented Sophia the Siren, and details her efforts at improving the play of her most promising students.

The effect of this is that the hands in this book are not as high-level as previous Menagerie books, nor is the play of some of the characters as sound as before (the Secretary Bird, in particular, seems to have all but turned into Walter the Walrus). But the humor and character interaction are still as crisp and entertaining as ever, and isn't that all we ever ask of the Menagerie?

Mollo is right when he states in the pretext of this book that it is a neglected area of bridge; what he fails to mention is that he does not do much to alleviate the problem. The book has a decent layout, but it is confusing for beginners and most solutions are obvious for experts. Also, the book seems to indicate that every defensive victory stems from taking a 20-to-1 shot.

At least you can be sure of finding a copy of this book to purchase...I'll sell you mine for five dollars plus postage.