Readers should note that this site does not distinguish between the various editions of Shakespeare, so the reviews you read may be for audiotapes, modern translations, etc. I am reviewing the Kenneth Branaugh BBC Radio recording of Hamlet. It is adequate, which I consider high praise for this challenging play. Like Branaugh's movie a few years later, it includes the entire text of the play, which is a nice way to remind yourself of some issues you may have forgotten.

The performances are pretty good, and include Branaugh (of course) as Hamlet and Derek Jacobi as Claudius, giving us a hint of the performances they would later give in the movie. No one's performance really blew me away, although Jacobi was excellent.

Ultimately, the play loses quite a bit when transferred to audio only. There's a lot to be conveyed with stage placement, physican action, expression, etc. Somehow, listening to the play limited my imagination on those issues, preventing my from using my "mind's eye" to the fullest.

Hamlet is considered, by many scholars, the pinnacle of Shakespeare's dramas. If you haven't read it yet this this Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism edition would be a great place to begin.

The text notes that are included with the play are very helpful to understand some of the more difficult language nuances that are inevitable with any Shakespeare. The structure is well laid out and conclusive. It complements the complexity of Hamlet very well.

Of course Hamlet is one of the great paradoxes and mysteries every written. The search of finding yourself and what it is that fuels the human spirit. Hamlet can be a very confusing play because of the depth of substance. However, the critical essays that suppliment the reading make it very accessable.

Each of the critical essays are of different schools of literary criticism: Feminist Criticism, psychoanalytic criticism, post-structuralist (deconstuctionist) criticism, Marxist critism, and finally a New Historicist criticism. Before each critism there is clearly written introduction to explain the motives and histories of that type of criticism.

This edition of Hamlet will not only introduce the reader to more Shakespeare, but also explain the play and help to familiarize the reader with literary criticism too. It is a beautiful volume that cannot be more recommended if you are wanting to buy a copy Hamlet.

Hamlet is, by far, the most complex of Shakespeare's many plays. Many of the themes covered are love vs hate, action vs non-action, revenge, and jealousy. Hamlet discovers that "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" when he encounters the ghost of his father, the King, who has recently been killed in battle. From here, Hamlet goes on a search for the discovery of what happened to his father. However, Hamlet not only uncovers secrets of the past, but also the depths of his own being.

The Folger Edition of Hamlet is a great edition to buy, especially for those who are studying this play in high school or college, because it is relatively cheap in price and is very "reader-friendly" with side notes and footnotes that accompany each page of each scene. So, even if you aren't a Shakespeare lover or if Shakespeare is just a little intimidating (we all know how this feels), this version at least allows you to get the gist of what is going on. Also, there are summaries of each scene within each act, to let you know in layman's terms what is taking place. I highly recommend this edition.

Anyone who's seen the movie knows that Gladiator has a strong story and script behind it. But, when it comes to novelizations I like to see a little extra background, perhaps more character development than you can have in the film. And that's where this book is a bit of a let down. This is a straight retelling of the screenplay with a couple of scenes that didn't make the movie, which where kind of nice to see. I remember when Commodus finds that Maximus is still alive and he was lied to when he thought he was dead, his sister tells him that the legion should know that lies should not be tolerated. In the movie, nothing really comes of that, but in the book it then later goes to a good scene where Commodus oversees the execution of those who told him Maximus was dead. It's just little touches like that.

When I read a book, I want to feel like I'm experiencing something a little different than the movie. I felt that way when reading Terry Brooks novelization of The Phantom Menace or even Raymond Benson's novelization of Tomorrow Never Dies. I really didn't get that feeling with this one.

So, in short, if you go into the book expecting the movie to be expanded on, prepare to be disappointed. However, if you really enjoyed the movie's great story as is and are expecting nothing else, this is a fast, fun read.

Maximus Meridus, the great Roman General, begins the book by fighting for the Roman Empire against the Barbarian tribe in Germania. Maximus is the emperor's most trusted General and the emperor has him in mind to be the next man to rule the Roman Empire. Commodus, the emperor's jealous heir, is outraged by his father's decision and murders his father, emperor Marcus Aurelius, to gain control of the throne. Commodus's first order of business as emperor is to make it so that general Maximus Meridas can never deceive him, so he has Maximus's wife and son slautered and then sends Maximus into exile. Devastated and Deeply wounded by the murdering of his family, Maximus finds a new way of life that makes him even stronger, emotionally as well as physically, than he was before. Maximus begins the hard and enduring life of being a gladiator. Maximus makes new friends and pays close attention to what his heart and his soul tell him while he is a gladiator. As Maximus rises to the top of the gladiator world, he plans a heroic and defiant way to gain his revenge. I really enjoyed this book. It was a gory, cut-them-up book as well as a movie. However, there was a lot more to the story than just the fighting and death. The author, Dewey Gran, did a really good job of introducing the readers to the main character, Maximus. As you read about his family getting killed, you get a big lump in your throat. It makes you feel the outrage that the main character is going through as it happens. The one thing that I didn't like about the book is that it was written to follow the movie, and I had already seen the movie when I read the book. My recommendation is to read the book, then go see the movie. There were no surprises to what was going to happen. It is a great book for anybody who doesn't mind some gory details.

Either read this book first, then see the movie or see the movie first, then read the book. I saw the movie Gladiator 3 times before I read the book, and each time I had seen the movie, I saw something new. After I read the book Gladiator, I saw the movie 2 more times. In My Opinion, the book Gladiator is a great read if you want to learn alittle more about the characters. It also gave me a better view of what each of the characters were thinking in each scene. Some of the parts of this book filled some of the gaps, that the movie didn't show. Also, the dialogue in the book was very helpful for me when I saw the movie again, because there were some words and sentences I had missed while watching the movie. This book is just as powerful as the movie, because it explains every scene with the same details, if not more. It gives me alittle more aspect of Maximus as a Warrior, General, Husband, Father and Friend, which is one of the reasons that I really enjoyed reading this book and seeing the movie.

I have a feeling this author's friends may have wrote these reviews, because I've read better material in Reader's Digest.

Dr. Lyon's vision of submarines operating under the ice, even before nuclear-powered submarines, was remarkable, and his lifetime persistence to convince the navy to continue under ice operations was unbelievable.

I was fortunate to be aboard Pintado SSN 672 during the 1978 under ice operation with Dr. Lyon aboard. As one of Pintado's diving officers, we had to redefine our idea of shallow water since we often ran with six feet and less under the keel. Previously less than a 1000 feet under the keel was considered very shallow.

When operating under the ice in shallow water, the ship's bubble (fore and aft angle) is very critical. A very small up angle (greater than 1/8 of a degree) could cause the ship's screw to hit the ocean bottom or a very small down angle could cause the screw to hit the bottom of the ice. If you are not familiar with submarines, you might find it interesting that the young men that hold the wheels that control the submarine's depth, angle, and course are the most junior people on board.

But having Dr. Lyon onboard, a very capable ship's captain, and trust in the entire crew, made for a secure feeling and an adventure that the Pintado crew will never forget.

You don't have to be a submariner to enjoy William Leary's, Under Ice.

Reviewed by Capt. Gordon I. Peterson, USN (Ret.), Senior Editor, Sea Power Magazine, Navy League of the United States

It has been said that you can usually determine the caliber of a man by the amount of opposition it takes to discourage him. By this measure, William M. Leary's biography of Dr. Waldo Lyon provides an inspiring account of how one man's lifelong tenacity in the face of bureaucratic lethargy and skepticism can make a difference in translating a vision to reality.

During the early years of World War II, Lyon began his quest for the U.S. Navy to develop an Arctic submarine fully capable of operating in one of the most challenging operational environments-beneath the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean. For 55 years, he championed--at times single-handedly--a research effort to provide the Navy with the information it would need to design a submarine that could operate safely and effectively in the world's most poorly understood ocean.

In the words of retired Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Frank B. Kelso II, "The nuclear submarine made Arctic operations possible, but without the knowledge of Waldo Lyon I doubt our Navy would have ventured under the sea ice to the [North] Pole." Lyon's painstaking efforts to acquire this knowledge are meticulously detailed by reference to numerous interviews with Navy submarine commanders, declassified patrol reports, and the scientific journal that Lyon compiled for more than five decades. As a result, Under Ice provides an authoritative and comprehensive account of the U.S. Navy's under-ice operations and Lyon's pioneering role in making it possible-recognized by the President's Medal for Distinguished Federal Service during the Kennedy administration.

It is noteworthy that prior to the USS Hawkbill's under-ice expedition to the Arctic in 1999, the submarine's commanding officer required every officer on board to read chapter seven of Leary's book--a description of USS Sargo's hazardous 1960 Arctic cruise.

With the design of the Sturgeon-class during the 1960s, the Navy finally constructed nuclear-powered attack submarines with greatly improved under-ice capabilities. Recognition of the strategic importance of the Arctic Ocean had reached new levels during the height of the Cold War-because, as Lyon wrote, "The Arctic Ocean is the submariner's private sea, hence, his sole capability to exploit and control."

In his foreword to Under Ice, Vice Adm. John H. Nicholson writes that the Navy would do well to heed Lyon's warning concerning the need to maintain a robust under-ice capability and not lose its hard-earned expertise. Unfortunately, with the retirement of the Sturgeon class of attack submarines and the reduction of the submarine force to 50 boats by 2003, the Navy's Arctic submarine operations will unavoidably decline in the face of higher priority warfighting and intelligence commitments.

As the number of sophisticated, high-endurance conventional submarines continue to proliferate around the world, it remains to be seen if the Department of Defense and U.S. political leadership will heed Lyon's counsel and restore the submarine force to the numbers required to meet current and projected operational requirements-and sustain the U.S. Navy's Arctic preeminence.