I picked this book up for a dime at a library sale, thinking it would be fun to read on my six hour plane flight. As with most of us who grew up with the 007 movies, we forgot that they started out as excellent novels by Ian Fleming. The way the author interweaves fact and ficton, James & Ian, one suspends reality and can actually believe this is a true to life biography - it is that good. Having said that, it is a British book, which for many Yanks may be too dry, to devoid of actual scenes of blood & gore. It is excellent literature and is recommended for anyone who wants to read a good book and, at the same time, fill in the blanks about our favorite spy, 007.

WELL-WRITTEN BIOGRAPHY AS TOLD BY THE REAL JAMES BOND. ANSWERS THOSE QUESTIONS YOU'VE ALWAYS WONDERED ABOUT. WORTH SCOURING THOSE DUSTY SHELVES , IF YOU'RE LUCKY, MARKHAM'S (AMIS) COLONEL SUN WILL BE HIDDEN AWAY THERE TOO.

This book is a must read for anyone who is a true James Bond aficionado. It follows James from his youth through his latter years with Her Majesty's Secret Service, thereby, providing an extraordinary insight into Bond and what drives him. This book would make a GREAT film and would satisfy those critics who desire "more character development" in the films. I have a copy in very good condition and it is a permanent part of my library.

I'm generation #9 From John Howland.. He is my Great Grandfather X8.... This is a must read! There is so much history in this familytree! Even in the many years that followed! I know I've the Familytree from 1592 to 2000..

I'm the 9th Generation from John Howland.. He would have been my GreatGrandfather X8..There is so much history in this Familytree.. Just an example: John Howland fell off the Mayflower Ship and survived!John Howland is in the begining of my FamilyTree.

If you are descended from John Howland and Mary Lee, this is the book for you. It is full of all kinds of information . After I bought it I realized it wasn't my line but I still enjoyed it and will keep it. my line continues to Hope Howland and John chipman and wish I could find a book on this line.

A layman needs a good guide when on tour of a new territory, whether that be a museum, a literary genre, or a country's heritage. In David Pearson's and Les Beletsky's 485 page ECUADOR and its GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, they present a book that is as good a guide as a layman could hope for, not just for exploring Ecuador or its Galapagos Islands, but for getting to know much of the fauna of Amazonian Latin America. The text is professionally written, yet down to earth and not infrequently humorous. The famous entomologist J. Henri Fabre once wrote, "Others again have reproached me with my style, which has not the solemnity, nay, better, the dryness of the schools. They fear lest a page that is read without fatigue should not always be the expression of the truth. Were I to take their word for it, we are profound only on condition of being obscure." This approach to scientific writing - being informative without being pedantic - allows writers like Pearson and Beletsky to fill the reader's heart with wonder while still often bringing a smile to his/her face.

With Ecuador being one of the most biologically diverse countries on earth, it is impossible to create a book that is both comprehensive and brief. The authors have gone for middle ground, covering the portion of Ecuadorian wildlife that is of interest and/or likely to be spotted by the ecotraveller to Ecuador. There are 96 color plates (with 5-6 animals illustrated on each one), several pages of color photographs, an excellent chapter - with maps - of Ecuador's National Parks and Bioreserves, a section on Ecuador's geography and habitats (e.g., Lowland Wet Forest, Mangrove and Coastal Vegetation) along with drawings illustrating several major plants in these regions, and 200 pages of animal descriptions under the headings 'Amphibians', 'Reptiles', 'Birds', 'Mammals', 'Insects & Other Arthropods', and 'Galapagos Wildlife'.

As an Ecuadorian resident, I have found this guide to be an excellent aid to identifying and understanding the natural history of the country. The book was both informative and fun to read, and I can highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about this wonderful area of the world.

I have just returned from those Enchanted Isles and found Beletsky's guide omnipresent, dog-eared and tightly clutched in the sea-salted hands of many a visitor. I am surprised that the Sea Lions and Blue Footed Boobies did not have their own copies!

This guide is a truly indispensible accessory for those fortunate enough to have visited those Islands of wonder and enchantment. It is also a great whetter of one's appetite! Other books have their strengths, but when push comes to shove, or in this case just going around..., one wants a thorough compliment to one's naturalist (to make all those notations when one gets back home, of course) and also a look into what is to come. Accurate and beautifully illustrated.

I read this book without reading the titlepage.

I was amazed. I wasn't sure if Bond was real or not, the plot was completely believeble. When I finished it I still wasn't sure then I found that it was a fictional work. Apart from being slightly gutted, I was impressed.

This book is based on the Ian Flemming books not the films but this should not rule out anyone.

It tells both about the "real" James Bond's early and working life and has many short stories that are not in any of the Flemming books.

It doen't rewrite the books but adds and expands on the before and after the stories.

Amazon Please get it back in stock!

This book is well worth chasing down for any fan of 007, especially those of Ian Fleming. Pearson uses the bits and pieces of Bond's personal history available in Fleming's books to construct an authentic feeling biography which details how Bond got his physical and emotional scars. Pearson gives some depth to Bond and gives us insight into why 007 behaves as he does. As a bonus, Bond's history is bracketed in the "present" giving the reader one version of what might have happened to Bond had he not been the ageless agent of fiction and film that he remains today. The future of several classic bond women is also revealed with Bond sailing off with one of his former flames. Overall, a good read and entertaining. Probably the second best post-Fleming Bond book after Markham's "Colonel Sun"

This book gave me fascinating insights into the life and work of a writer I've admired for years. I especially liked the account of McPhee's early years in Princeton and Vermont.

McPhee is an important American writer and should have had a number of books written about his work before Pearson's, but this is terrific beginning. Pearson's book is intelligent, wonderfully written (interesting in its own right as a piece of prose), and suggestive. His book does what all good criticism should do -- it makes a reader want to go back to the author's work and re-experience it.

Dr. Miller and Dr. Bachrach have written a wonderful book. Dr. Miller was actually my daugther's ortho doctor until he took time off to help write this book. Dr. Bachrach is currently treating my daughter. I love the fact that they have made this book easy to understand and that it answers questions that you might never think to ask while you are in the clinic with your child.

Mark Pearson's Colorado's Canyon Country: A Guide to Hiking & Floating BLM Wildlands is an absolutely gorgeous, full-color hiking guide filled with 51 easy-to-read maps, as well as photographs, survival tips, desert etiquette, and instructions for how you can help with wilderness issues. Each of the many suggested hikes is outlined on the maps and has its length listed, as well as its low and high elevations and its approximate difficulty. The paper used for printing is thick, durable stock, for this book is meant to be taken on the road. If you're planning a hiking trip to Colorado, get this book!

Slaver

I came across Magic Doors at a book sale, sometime back in the early 1980's. It was so beautiful that I immediately ordered several copies at full price to loan or gift. I only have one copy left and I treasure it. John Pearson's exacting eye for juxtaposition of image, pattern and color; his sensitivity to the subtleties of emotion in his human subjects; his vision of the subtly exotic, ecstatic, erotic and electric (My favorites: the luminous, pastel, cloud-bound cathedral in Mexico City -- a blissed out Tom Robbins smoking a stogie in a hot tub -- a dear friend reverently holding his pregnant wife's belly -- a midnight sky split with streaks of lightning)...these images, woven deftly with a transcendent narration, makes Magic Doors a book I turn to when I need to be calmed, reassurred of the "rightness of things as they are," or reminded that life is, indeed, good... very good.

This book has become my "bible" for exploring the most beautiful and wild areas in Colorado from my home in Colorado Springs. My original copy of the book was destroyed when it was left in a soft-top jeep with the windows off, during a rain storm (while hiking one of the trails in the book, nonetheless). That is why I am back here to purchase another! One word of warning: the author seems to underestimate, vs. overestimate, the trail distances. Be prepared to hike an extra mile or two! This book is great!

I'm a native Coloradan. No matter what I want to do, be it a quick day hike up to a 4 day backpacking trip, this book has it. I own other hiking books, but this one gets by far the most use. I love the historical descriptions of each wilderness area. The maps are good enough to get your bearings and find the trailhead. Plus each Wilderness Area has a "John Fielder's Favorite" hike which always spectacular.

One thing, though. A reviewer below said the maps are inadequate... If you plan on anything more than a day hike, you should have topographical anyway. This is true for most if not all guide books.

As one of the few Colorado Natives, I have seen much of the state. But our local boy John Fielder has seen much more. His ratings, descriptions and maps have been 'right-on' with what I have seen thus far and with the Fielder photography, it provides a great additional perspective on the already detailed descriptions. I 've gotten lost in the book a few times just dreaming of my next outing!