Any marketing person who has not read this book has almost certainly wasted their time and money reading all the others. It's funny, witty, and true. And even if you don't agree, it makes a wonderful gift to your boss, who won't know whether to be grateful or insulted

To give you any indication of how hard this book is to put down, I spent about 20 hours over the last two days finishing it up. I must say, this is one of the best novels I've read in years. The characters are very well developed, and the villains are drawn out so perfectly, that they will scare you more than any supernatural beast. The scariest part of all is how these monsters can exist in a world that is as realistic as every-day life.

It may be odd to look at photos of 50 years of age showing automotive things, but for me it was fantastic. Being somewhat younger than the author I tried to do the same ten years later in my hometown, Gothenburg in Sweden. The most interesting automobiles was a Talbot-Lago Baby and a Salmson Convertible. These Cars to me seemed to be the last real enthusiasts automobiles. Their carisma of absolute absence of compromise was 100%. Certainly every picture in Mr Straub`s book is worth contemplation before sleeping time.

I have used this text for the last three quarters and most of my students have kept the book for future reference. Over 60% of Winter 1997 students were ESL and they found it to be the best text they had used. It will be dated by the end of 1997 and I look forward to a new edition

I recently installed windows 98 second edition on several PCs at home and work and have been looking for a useful reference manual. This book is full of easier, quicker ways to use windows 98se, including many simple ideas that are easy to implement. Virtually every page offered something helpful. Amazingly, there was very little obvious stuff that most books spend most of the pages regurgitating.

I literally stumbled on this book in my local bookstore. I read it, then re-read it, then read it again. I am the Director of Operations for a small corporation owning 15 restaurants and I was so excited to see the very most important concepts of leadership in management expressed in such a clear, concise, easy to follow way. The book is not too deep and not too long, just right for young restaurant Managers who have short attention spans or feel they do not have time to read. I am ordering 20 copies to hand out to all my managers. This book will be added to the list of required reading in our company.

A study guide you must have if you plan to take any class that use "Through Childhood and Adolescence
by Kathleen Stassen Berger, Richard O. Straub". The chapter review is very helpful. If you are in the hurry and don't have time to read 120+ pages per each chapter, read this study guide instead.

Yes, it sounds wierd, but Stephen King and Peter Straub got together in the eighties and wrote this fantasy novel. If you're familiar with either's work, you know that this is going ot be a great book. So, I guess I'll let you read the summary, as written by myself.
Jack Sawyer is only twelve, but he's about to go on the journey of a lifetime. His mother is dying, and what she needs to survive resides in California...But Jack is on the east coast. He must get there alone, by himself,and quickly, for not only his mother's life hangs in the balance, but that of a woman Jack doesn't know, a woman who is the queen of a land Jack has never heard of...The Territories.
Jack's father could travel to this strange land, buy simply wishing it to happen. Jack soon learns that he, too, can do it, and finds that traveling in the Territories covers much more land than in the real world. For instance...Say he "travels" to the Territories from one point, and walks half a mile. When Jack "travels" back, he finds he's walked two miles! Getting to California should be easy, right?
Wrong. For Jack's evil Uncle Morgan does not want Jack to succeed. He wants Jack's mother--and the Queen of the Territories--to die, for then Morgan's "Twinner" (the copy of yourself in the Territories) could take control of the strange land and spread his harshness.
So Jack's journey is two-fold: Save his mother (and the Queen) and stop Uncle Morgan from taking over the Territories. Since he can't do this alone, Jack makes several friends that help him along the way, and the entire story comes together in a conclusion that'll leave you on the edge of your seat.
Did you understand any of this? I hope not, for it should make you want to buy the book even more. Trust me, "The Talisman" is worth every penny you sink into it, for it is an adventure of the ages, filled with excitement, suspense, humor, horror, and the struggles of one boy on a desperate quest. Also, check out Stephen King and Peter Straub's sequel to this wonderful book: "Black House."

Ever since I was twelve years old I have been a Stephen King fan. The first novel I ever read by "the master" was a novel he wrote in conjunction with another writer ny the name of Peter Straub. The Talisman hooked me from page one, I identified with the character of Jack Sawyer unlike any other character in the history of mainstream fiction. This novel, from it's fascinating beginning to it's terrifying conclusion, is everything any horror or fantasy or just fiction fan could want. Jack's strange and terrible journey across the Territories and 1980's America makes for wonderful storytelling. King and Straub(arguably the greatest writer in horror fiction) blend seamlessly together in a wonderfully hopeful and awe-inspiring tale. If you enjoy top-notch storytelling and believable characters (from Wolf to Sunlight Gardener) then this book is everything you could hope for.

I finished reading The Talisman mere moments ago. I must say that I read those final pages with a smile on my face; following Jack Sawyer on his quest was a pleasure. I have always been a Stephen King fan and this book has done nothing to dissuade that opinion. Classic stories of good versus evil, as in this case, renew that childhood innocence that no matter how bad things seem everything will turn out for the best in the end.

King and Straub have done a wonderful job of taking readers on the journey of a child that is forced to deal with adult issues - to adapt based on his own understanding of how the world works. Somehow the insights of the thirteen year old (Jack) see beyond the façades of people and into the truth in all realities.

I don't wish to spoil the book for you - read and I promise you won't be disappointed. For those of you that only have a vague idea about what Stephen King books are like, don't expect a gory horror novel. King's stories usually involve a journey or an evolution for his characters; they are different people from whence they began. His stories do include some of the fantastic - but that magic is what reminds us of what it was like to be kids again ourselves.

Although I'm not much of a horror fan, I decided to read Dracula since it was considered a classic and was hopefully pretty good. I'm glad I read it. It was a very interesting story. It wasn't what I was expecting. The whole novel is written as if you're reading someone's diary, telegram or news article. It starts with Jonathan Harker(a lawyer if I remember correctly) who is summoned to Count Dracula's castle to help Dracula obtain a home in London. He soon realizes Dracula is no ordinary man, but some kind of beast. This section takes about 1/4 of the book and then, after some deaths surrounded with unusual and frightening circumstances, Jonathan, along with some other interesting characters commit to not only prevent Dracula's move to London, but to kill him. This book was interesting in the fact that it was almost as if Dracula is not the main character of the novel, and I suppose in some ways, he's not. The book focuses much more on this group of people's attempts to hinder Dracula's actions and to cause his demise. Also, I liked reading the book and discovering the original story behind Dracula, not just all of the spoofs and parodies one sees today. I liked finding out that besides not liking garlic, crosses and sunlight, vampires also can't pass running water and can turn into wolves as well as bats. Although I can't say I was ever particularly scared reading this novel(probably because I don't really believe in vampires), I did find this novel to be very good, especially considering horror isn't one of the genres I'm particularly fond of. I definitely think it's worth picking up this book and reading it.

Everyone knows the name "Dracula," but the majority have only seen the legendary Transylvanian Count on the silver screen or through pop culture; few indeed have actually read the work that started it all.

One cannot claim to be a fan of vampire literature or of Dracula himself without having read Bram Stoker's tremendous work of gothic horror. Think that Dracula and other vampires can't be out in daylight? Wrong--they simply have no powers during the day, which you'd know if you read this extraordinary book.

Written in epistolary form (that is, as a series of letters and diary entries), the story is presented from the viewpoints of the main characters, from Jonathan Harker to his wife Mina to Dr. van Helsing. Rather than detracting from the story, this format breaks up what would otherwise be a rather long manuscript into manageable chunks and adds to the historical character of the novel.

Modern film interpretations have presented Stoker's story through the eyes of each producer, director, and screenwriter, with nearly all making wholesale changes--Mina Harker, for instance, is NOT the reborn lost love of Count Dracula as Francis Ford Coppola would have us believe. Many others who have "read" Dracula have done so through abridged texts that distort the story through omission. Pick up and read the story that started it all in its intended format... Bram Stoker's Dracula. You won't regret it.

One of the scariest books in history, DRACULA is nevertheless misunderstood. Our civilization is removed from the Victorian era. We think of it as somehow distant and quaint, and ourselves as modern. But when Bram Stoker published DRACULA in 1897, the Victorian era _was_ modern. Stoker meant to make the book more frightening than most books by bringing an ancient horror into a modern, anti-superstitious world. He uses typewriters and phonograph disks the way a modern writer would refer to the internet and e-mail. DRACULA's first readers might've looked out of their town or country houses and expected to see Dracula's gaunt figure emerging through the fog.

He tells the story through a series of diaries, letters, clippings. Normally this is an unweildy method of storytelling, but in this case it is most effective.

The novel is divided into three broad sections. In the first, young Jonathan Harker and Dracula have the stage almost alone. Though Harker's diary we learn details of his journey through eastern Europe to meet a Count who wants to travel to England, and Harker carries him certain important papers. Count Dracula's character comes across very strong and well-defined, and grows ever menacing as Harker slowly learns he is not going to be allowed back to England, but will become food for Dracula's vampiric harem.

The second part of the book, set in England, deals with Mina Murray, who is going to marry Jonathan; Mina's friend Lucy; three men who are in love with Lucy; and a good-hearted but mysterious Ductch doctor, Abraham van Helsing. The bulk of this part deals with Lucy's mysterious disease, her decline to death, and her transformation into a vampire that her suitors must destroy out of love. Dracula appears only fleetingly through the book, but the reader knows what happens, and suspects the cause of Lucy's decline.

In the last part, Jonathan, Mina, and Lucy's three lovers band with Dr. von Helsing in a pact to destroy Dracula before he can spread his contagion throughout England; and meanwhile, Dracula wreaks his vengeance on them for taking Lucy from him.

Stoker uses many ways of approaching his subject. Occasionally the horror is direct; but once it is established, he makes it subtle, working behind the scenes, in a way that may be even more frightening. Though he also uses different voices, his prose is invariably fine. And as each character has to overcome his aversion to ancient superstition and face Dracula with a mind open to the fact that there's more in the world than science and technology and late-Victorian materialism can contain, the book becomes eerily meaningful for the twenty-first century.

Modern purveyors of vampiric fiction dispense with the blatant Christian symbolism used to fight Dracula's ilk, such as a crucifix or sanctified host, or prayer. They also turn the evil of Dracula topsy-turvey and somehow invent sympathy for soulless monsters who view living humans as food. Stoker doesn't hesitate to show Dracula as an evil, totalitarian horror; as a contagion that must be eradicated; as an enslaver of women, like Lucy, and men, like poor Renfield. And Stoker has reason enough to realized that only Supernatural agencies could fight the supernatural. The saving Blood of Christ on the Cross, blood of which a soulless terror like Dracula cannot drink, is the most effective symbol for fighting and defeating this brand of evil. It was part of the novel's consistency that as the characters have to come to grips with the reality of ancient evil, they must also return to the symbols of good that they also have rejected in a narrow-minded embracing of the modern.

Dracula, the strongest character in Victorian fiction, does not weaken himself by the need to be "understood" or "pitied". He will destroy or be destroyed. And the worst destruction that could happen to him would be mitigation.

DRACULA may be the scariest book ever written; it's certainly the best of the classic horror stories. It's well-crafted and exquisitely constructed enough that it stands as a great novel even without genre pigeonholing.

I have read every Peter Straub book ever written (excluding Marriages, of course), and this is the best of them all (with Shadowland and If You Could See Me Now running close seconds). Granted, the story is not about ghosts, but what it IS about is even worse than mere spooks. The horror is slow and brooding, almost Gothic in it's telling, giving the reader the feeling of inexorable descent into madness, and the mystery of Eva Galli - a.k.a Alma Mobley, Anne-Veronica Moore, Angie Maule, and Anna Mostyn - is one of the best-developed plots ever written. The characterization (Straub's trademark), is amazing, especially about Gregory Bate/Benton, the pacing is great, and the increasing sense of "What the h--- is going on?" is a very great touch.
Interestingly enough, the original hardback cover is that of a gray background with the title and author's name written on it in giant black letters, and a giant wasp curling up against the letter "Y" of the title. For those of you who have read the book, you know why.

At the time of Ghost Story's publication, the N.Y. Times (which didn't review horror stories in those days) declared that it was a book bound to succeed in the English Department and at the checkout counter. Truer words were never typed. This book is in all likelihood the best modern ghost story, pace Dan Simmons, Stephen King, et al. Its literary influences are obvious -- the law firm of James and Hawthorne is the pivot of the plot, and one chapter is a thinly disguised retelling of The Turn of the Screw--but its mood of elegant dread is perfect, and its energy never flags. Shifts in time and perspective are handled expertly. "What is the worst thing you ever did?" asks the book. "I won't tell you that, but I'll tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me. The most dreadful thing." This book is perhaps the only true page turner I have ever read. I read it on the bus, I carried it into the post office and read it on line. I did not sleep until I finished it. Perhaps it was the time, or my mood, but this is the only contemporary novel that gives me the chill that permeates the best short stories of Poe and Hawthorne and both Jameses (Henry and M. R.). I believe poor Peter Straub (whom I met a few years ago) felt himself a captive of the success of this book for many years, but who can blame his readers? The movie Ghost Story is dreadful, and the talented cast only adds to the waste. Please read the other reviews for a synopsis of the plot....

"...your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions..." Joel, 3:3

In 1979, I discovered the novels of a guy named Stephen King and began reading more extensively in the horror genre. On the prowl for something similar, I happened on Straub's book in the library. I checked it out, little realizing that I had begun a decades long love affair with his work. It's now been almost twenty years since I read it the first time--I've read hundreds of books since then, but few thrilled me like Ghost Story.

Rereading it now, I realize the depth of Straub's accomplishment. Like the legendary storytellers to whom he pays homage, Straub has created a timeless tale of terror, an enduring classic. Reduced to its essentials, Ghost Story is a tale of supernatural revenge. As young men, Ricky Hawthorne, Sears James, Edward Wanderly, Lewis Benedikt and John Jaffrey accidentally kill a woman named Eva Galli. They panic, and decide to cover up her death. Placing her body in a borrowed car, they push the vehicle into a nearby lake. As the car sinks into the muck, they see a sight that haunts them for the rest of their lives: for a moment, it appears as if Eva is still alive, as they catch a glimpse of her face through the rear window. Shaken, they vow to keep her death a secret, and go on with their lives.

Fifty years later, the group still lives in their hometown of Milburn, NY, prosperous and content. Now known as The Chowder Society, they meet on a regular basis to swap ghost stories, but they never speak of Eva. Then, Edward Wanderly dies during a party given in the honor of an actress named Anne-Veronica Moore, apparently of fright. The remaining members experience a series of prophetic dreams in which several of them die. Unable to admit to themselves that Eva Galli has returned to haunt them, they send for Don Wanderley, Ed's nephew. A writer by trade, Don has penned a horror novel called The Nightwatcher, based, we later learn, on his own experiences with Eva, known to him as Alma Mobley.

Don's arrival in Milburn seems to send a signal to the evil which threatens the group, resulting in the deaths of two more of their number. The survivors band with Don and Peter Barnes, a young man whose mother has been killed by Eva and her minions. Together they struggle to locate and destroy their nemesis.

Straub sets the tone for the novel from its first sentences, which express a thought repeated throughout the book. Readers are immediately confronted with the question, "What's the worst thing you've ever done?," followed by the response, "I won't tell you that, but I'll tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me...the most dreadful thing..." Readers are filled with anticipation, wondering what the dreadful thing could be. Straub then proceeds to explore what Stephen King called "a very Jamesian theme...the idea that ghosts, in the end, adopt the motivations and perhaps the very souls of those who behold them." Straub leaves it unclear whether Eva/Alma/Anne Veronica could exist without her victims' belief to sustain her--we never know whether her existence is independent, symbiotic, or totally dependent on those she is out to destroy. Straub's clues muddy the waters, as when Eva and another shapeshifter are asked, "Who are you?" Their answer, "I am you, " is maddening and ambiguous.

Numerous readings reveal how much the book owes to Salem's Lot. Straub has publicly acknowledged this debt, stating that "I wanted to work on a large canvas. Salem's Lot showed me how to do this without getting lost among a lot of minor characters. Besides the large canvas I also wanted a certain largeness of effect. I had been imbued with the notion that horror stories are best when they are ambiguous and low key and restrained. Reading Salem's Lot, I realized that the idea was self defeating."

On reflection, the debt to Salem's Lot is obvious. Both feature small towns under siege from the supernatural. In both, the terror escalates until the towns are threatened with destruction--Jerusalem's Lot is consumed by purifying fire, while Milburn is decimated. In each, a writer's arrival in town seems to trigger disaster. Both writers strike up alliances with young teenagers whose lives are ruined by the terror, Ben Mears with Mark Petrie and Don Wanderly with Peter Barnes. Both forge an almost parental bond with their young allies, replacing those lost parents. In both, the evil lives on--Ben and Mark end up on the run, while Don, after ending the threat of Eva, presumably goes off to face her evil aunt.

In the end, however, Salem's Lot was merely a template, a guide which opened Straub's eyes more fully to the possibilities of horror. Ghost Story is a marriage of two sensibilities: King's, from which it derives its more operatic moments, and Straub's, in that it thoroughly fulfills his literary ambition to expand the boundaries of the traditional ghost story. It also stands as perhaps the first example of Straub's trademark exploration of the power of stories, of the capacity of stories to uncover the truth. Much as King's book stands as a tribute to writers like Bram Stoker and Richard Matheson, Straub's stands as a tribute to writers specifically referenced in the book (Hawthorne, Henry James) and those not (like Poe, Irving, Lovecraft, Bierce and M. R. James) but whose influence is there nonetheless.

Recently, I had the vicarious pleasure of watching my thirteen year old daughter Leigh read this wonderful book for the first time. I took her enthusiastic reaction as validation of my long held opinion that Ghost Story is one of the finest horror novels of the past half century.