Like all of the other Three Investigator books that I have read, The Secret of Terror Castle is just wonderful. It is suspensful and interesting throughout the whole book. Be aware of reading it because it will get you hooked and you will have to buy all the books in the series.

I hope the whole series comes out again, because I have not read about 15 of them. My fondest memories of the books I have are the Three Investigators hideout or clubhouse. They made it out of a junk pile and it has different passage ways. I dreamed of having a clubhouse while reading the books. Get out there and buy these books. I'm sure that you will be glad you did.

For far too long these books have been out of print, though I understand they're still being published in Europe. With their return, a whole new generation of readers can thrill to the adventures of Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews.

In "The Secret of Terror Castle", Jupe, Pete and Bob, whose motto is "We Investigate Anything", investigate an allegedly haunted house in order to prove their mettle. Author Robert Arthur not only gives the boys distinct personalities, rather than making them "types", he also has them conduct their investigation in a logical, methodical fashion, even as they deal with a trouble maki! ng rival. He also plants clues throughout the text to give the reader a sporting chance to solve the mystery.

Arthur and his successors further respected their readers' intelligence by making the endings of the books logical developments of the stories, rather than coming up with a contrived solution. Granted, the means by which Jupe, Pete and Bob become involved in "The Mystery of the Silver Spider", a later book in the series, is a bit contrived. However, that story is also good, and throughout the series as a whole, the writers don't talk down to their readers.

Readers of the original hardcover editions may remember an illustration on the endpapers that depicted Hitchcock in profile behind a spider web on one page, while the facing page showed Jupe, with magnifying glass, Pete, with tape recorder, and Bob, with a home made walkie-talkie, making their way through a cemetery at night. That drawing exuded an atmosphere of mystery, and Random House might want to! consider duplicating it, sans Hitchcock, of course, in the! current paperback reissues.

In fact, Hitchcock's absense is the only negative aspect of the revised version. He added a touch of realism, because he was a real person. Now, he has been replaced by the fictional characters of Reginald Clarke and Hector Sebastian, and the illusion that Jupe, Pete and Bob might have been real people is gone. This is a minor point, of course, and doesn't affect the stories themselves.

At least not until the series gets to #31, "The Mystery of the Scar-Faced Beggar", the first post-Hitchcock volume. Jupe, Pete and Bob meet Hector Sebastian for the first time in that story-- a meeting which is central to the plot. I hope the series will continue to sell, so we'll see how that problem will be addressed.

Better still, I hope Random House publishes new adventures after the old ones have been reprinted.

After reading these books, I became enchanted with the sea and sailing. My library has becaome a lot more nautically oriented, and I take partial credit for my local book-store stocking the S&A serries. =) Even today, I still will read them occasionally... Just to allown myself to forget about the present and be drawn into the most wonderful past imaginable. These are a must for any young reader, I have yet to find one that hates these books, and wonderful for adults, too. All I can say is buy them, you won't be disapointed. I just wish Ransome had written more.

Not that this was ever Ransome's intention, of course. He was simply drawing upon his own boyhood experiences (from a yet earlier time) as well as contemporary ones of the children of a family friend. He used these to weave an enchanting tale that would remind those same children (by then returned 'home' to the deserts of the Middle East) of a happy summer spent sailing in England.

The story's strong basis in reality (albeit several separate realities, as it were), tempered with Ransome's love of sailing (and his knowledge of Lake District life), imbue the book with a strong sense of authority. Both the text and the author's own pen-and-ink illustrations also have an endearing charm that comes across even now, some 70 years after the book was first published. One of the great things about this book (and indeed, the whole series of books that was to follow) is that Ransome avoids most of the stereotypical treatments of children's roles that his contemporaries (as well as later authors) continually espoused. He always manages to treat (nearly!) all of his characters as equal partners in their activities, whatever their age, gender or background. The children are also afforded a greater respect and rather more freedom by the adults than is common these days, too.

And while the children's 'adventures' are nothing fantastical or extra-ordinary when viewed from an absolute perspective, Ransome manages to convey so much of the children's own excitement at their activities that the reader can't help being drawn into their world and so come to share some of that same excitement. All in all, this a delightful book and should be on everybody's essential reading list, regardless of their age!

This is the book I've used for years when reading this story to my own children, passing on Tasha Tudor and other illustrators. Why?

Although we can find the same poem and pay a lot more, with award winning illustrators, the illustrations provided by Douglas Gorsline are surely the best. They are quite colorful, and offer details little children love looking into...cats lie sleepily on the window sill, we see an overview of the town, the presents spilling from the open sack are intriguing and plentiful, and Jolly St. Nick is -- well, quite Jolly (as you can see by looking at the cover!)

The story is an "abridged version" - I'm not sure about other parents, but we read this on Christmas Eve, and we only have so much time and energy. Everything we remember from the classic poem by Clement Clarke Moore is in this version.

(From "'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" to "He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!" In between we have everything, from the names of the eight tiny reindeer, to a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly, including dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky".

In other words, don't be scared off by 'abridged'!)

Perhaps a hardcover edition might be more appropriate if you're giving a gift (unless you're giving to more than one child), but this book is one of the best offers we've found!

A classic done simply and inexpensively!

The lyrics are the same, from book to book, but the fanciful illustrations in this one are enough to engage adults and children as they read this book together.

The perfect gift for any family whose Christmas tradition includes reading this classic!

Stumpy is a squirrel who likes to collect things. Stumpy is nice and is not very clean. She also is funny and a little bit of a smart alek. In the book she changes because she starts off as a collecting mother soon to be, at the end she is a mother with a curiosity about Gwendolyn and other Hermit Crabs. I think Stumpy is really cool because she really cares for Kona, Gwendolyn a hermit crab, Murray a bat, and her three babies Top, Bottom, and Sparrow.

From our first encounter with Holmes in Conan Doyle's introductory novel, A Study in Scarlet, and his meeting with Dr. Watson, with whom he shared rooms at the now famous 221B Baker Street, we are fascinated by the uniqueness of Holmes's eccentric character, his incredible intelligence in all things concerning the science of deduction, his total dedication to his craft, and the enormous resources of energy and determination he calls on to solve problems no one else can master.

Holmes is a consulting detective; that is, he is the court of last appeal when the police, government officials, and private citizens can find help no where else. What makes Holmes special is not only his vast knowledge related to crime and the master criminal, like the infamous Professor Moriarty, but his incredible powers of observation and deduction, which he uses in almost every story to amaze Dr. Watson and the various detectives of Scotland Yard who come seeking his help.

Conan Doyle is a fine writer and he wanted to turn his attention to other projects and so decided to kill off Holmes at a last meeting with Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls in the Alps in the highly recommended story, The Adventure of the Final Problem. As we might expect, Holmes is not so easily disposed of. The demand for more adventures prompted Conan Doyle to publish a final volume of stories of the greatest detective in literary history.

Whether already a fan for years or a new Holmes reader, this collection is perfect. My copy is one of the most treasured volumes in my library.

Everyone is familiar with Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues. For some reason, The Mysterious Island is not read as widely. Yet, in my opinion, it is Verne's best and most rewarding novel.

The opening of Myserious Island reads a bit like a serious version of "Wizard of Oz." Cyrus, Pencroft, Herbert, and Gideon, and a dog named Neb make a daring escape from a Civil War prison in a balloon, but the balloon is blown way off course to an uncharted volcanic island. These men are worthy souls; Captain Cyrus is an inspiring leader, Pencroft, an earthy but hardworking sailor. Gideon is kind of a "everyman" -- observant, strong and resourceful and loving, and Herbert a young, knowlegeable naturalist. These men and their dog Neb conquer the island's challenges and make the very best out of their isolation on the small island. But are they prepared for the surprises the island has for them--and the ultimate surprise in the second half of the book. The suspense keeps the reader turning the pages through a great deal of descriptive information about nature, chemistry, physics and engineering. This is classic Verne and what really put the Science in Science Fiction.

One reason Mysterious Island may not have developed the strong audience of the other Verne novels is that there is so much detail and scientific discussion. That is rough going if you have little interest in such subjects. There are abridged versions that cut a lot of the description, but frankly, the science is what I love best about the book. How Cyrus and company make nitroglycerin and use it to reshape their island home is one of my favorite chapters in sci-fi literature.

If you liked Swiss Family Robinson as a child, you would surely enjoy Mysterious Island. It's one of Verne's best works and deserves to be read.

He kept coming to mind as I was reading this incredible book, as the characters, stranded on an island with absolutely nothing, accomplished such amazing feats as draining a lake, making a home, building a ship, making an elevator, and a great many other things. There is excitement, suspense (what IS going on on this mysterious island??), and wonderful, likeable characters. Not a real well-known Verne book, but fortunately still in print, and one of his best and most entertaining.

(Incidentally, if you want a children's version of the same story, try to find "A Long Vacation" by Jules Verne, which is extremely similar in plot, but with younger characters and for a younger audience - very charming!)

By the way, please do read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea first, if you have not already done so. Evidently, Verne assumed that everyone had when he wrote this novel.

Great reading!

Mention Jules Verne, and books that spring to mind are 20,000 Leagues, Around the World in 80 days, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. The Mysterious Island is one of his lesser known works, which is something of a mystery itself.

The book surpasses one's imagination and never fails to surprise. From the initial pages when Capt. Cyrus Harding and his friends decide to escape from a prison camp, the story seizes the complete attention of the reader, and unfolds at a pace and in a direction excelling Jules Verne's characteristic stories. The spirit and ingenuity of man is demonstrated in almost every page, as Cyrus and Co. find themselves marooned on a deserted island, and armed with only their wits, transform their desperate situation into a wonder world of science and technology. The reader is drawn into the adventure and finds himself trying to find solutions to the problems and obstacles that lie in plenty for the castaways, as Cyrus and his indomitable friends surmount myriad problems in their fight for survival. They are aided in their ventures by an uncanny and eerie source that remains a mystery until the very end.

This book cannot fail to fascinate and inspire awe in the mind of any reader. One begins to grasp the marvels and inventive genius behind the simple daily conveniences and devices that are normally taken for granted. The line between reality and fantasy is incredibly thin, and for sheer reading pleasure and boundless adventure, this book will never cease to please.

PS: The book has been adapted into a movie, which is one of the worst adaptations of any novel that I have ever had the misfortune of viewing. It is criminal to even mention the movie and the original work in the same breath.

Never in history of humanity that this book is appropriate and applicable in our circumstances of world today...the critical change is about to happen...and we all can make a difference when we learn to live according to the teachings of the Masters.

I am amazed that this Baird Spalding was born May 26, 1857. His writings and true to life experiences are timeless and if there is any thing that each one of us needs at this time ..is to experience his biography and teachings of the Masters of the Far East. As a Christian, and a bible student since i was 9 years old. I am bewildered why this book is not as popular. I recommend this to all sincere Christians...to read this book with an open heart and mind. It is the first book that I have read which finally answered an a question of what happened to Jesus after the ressurection and his meeting with his apostles...no history?

As a child, I have always wondered why so little was written in the bible about his life after his ressurection ...and why so many churches protray the image of "Jesus as death on the cross." It has taken 62 years of my life...to finally read a book by a man who was born in 1857...and this is the year 2001..!!!

B. Spalding's experiences "TESTIFIES" THE TEACHINGS IN "THE BIBLE"....and validates the "resurrection" of Jesus , the Christ, THAT HE LIVES!

This "omnibus" edition is rather a bit bulky to hold in the bath or on the beach or in one's sleeping bag, but it's worthy the sprained thumb muscles.

I'm almost 50 so this was a blast from the past for me (and in any case, I had only read the original trilogy, not the fourth book in what was still stubbornly and as the entry in the Hitchhiker's Guide will tell you, is nevertheless still a trilogy because it was written by a software avatar named Douglas Adams while in Improbability Drive. I thought everyone knew that. And then to have the 5th (and absolutely new) book, "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish," and the cute short story about the young and adventuresome Zaphod, well, when I saw it, I had to get it...for my 20-year old son.

His response? "Gee, now I know where all those expressions come from. You know, 'life, the universe and everything,' '42,' 'I never could quite get the hang of Thursdays' and so on." I'd made a convert. I'd pass the virus (or is that a meme?) on to a new generation and had fulfilled my role as a father. But being a wily father, after giving it to my son for Christmas, I borrowed it back* and reread the original stories, which I first encountered in their radio format -- the BBC radio versions re-broadcast on the CBC**. What a delightful blast from the past. It still froodles, by Zarquon!

*Always make your euro/loonie/yanquidollah stretch farther by giving books to people you'd like to read. A somewhat less obvious strategy than giving your wife the Motomaster cordless drill set from Canadian Tire for Christmas.

**Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; listed in the Hitchhiker's Guide as the Canadian Broadcorping Castration, thanks to an error by a sub-editor at InfiniDim.

Marc A. Schindler
Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada -- Gateway to the Boreal Parkland
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography" -- Ambrose Pierce

The Mansfield edition of this book is a wonderful translation with great annotation and references, that make it good for a studnet or a casual, non-social theory, interested person to read. The introduction is also beautifully written and lays out the ideas de Tocqueville had marvelously. I think that this will be the edition to use in the future.

After hte events of last year, it is important for us to keep in mind what this country is about, what are its true problems, and how we can improve it. The problems that de Tocqueville points out are not something that panders to either left or right in our current sense, but points to problems fundamental in all democracies and particularlly in the American way of democracy. Yet, his hope should be uplifting.