The author of this book doesn't even attempt to disguise his seething contempt and dislike for Sinatra. Unsubstantiated rumours, innuendo, "re-created" dialogue, speculation ad nauseum. Dreadful rubbish, just dreadful... Do yourself a favour, and read anything written by Will Friedwald (run a search on his name for available books). In the end, the only thing that matters is the music, not the person or the image, just the music.

When I read this book I felt like I was reading a tex book. The only important things in the book, and the majority of it, were names and dates. Throughout the whole book - constantly. He also worships Sinatra. Any fault of Franks was obviously forced upon him, according to the author. Oh and most importantly, "Sinatra is God."

Five stars isn't enough.

I love FS and his music, but I am not a blind teenage hero worshipper. Part of the reason I'm a big, big, big FS fan is because he was REAL and even if he made a slew of the best recordings ever (period!) you can learn a lot about someone by getting the whole picture which includes some troublesome aspects of Sinatra's personality. If you consider the truly creative giants in all arts, many of them were not exactly what you would call well-adapted. Many of them are drug users or suicides at some point. Sinatra lived his art and his life like a man possessed, as I think Clarke mentions, and it may have been the man's sometimes "foolish fury" that made him the unequivocal entertainer of the century (to use the recordmakers' term.) A lot of the people FS ran into trouble with weren't all that righteous (the journalists, for example), and I think Clarke tells it like it was. If FS picked some bad fights, so be it; I have picked some bad fights in my life because I have one thing in common with Sinatra (definitely not my lousy voice!): I'm human and I'm flawed.

I don't buy inane music biographies that paint useless, glowing pictures of musicians. Such books are a complete waste of money.

This book is fascinating precisely because it frames Sinatra's music and life in terms of his era and his background -- the Dorsey era isn't just a nice bit of trivia, it really shaped FS' career for decades and it is astounding to look at how many Dorsey tunes were remade during the Columbia and Capitol years (and later!) It is immensely rewarding to listen to songs evolve from boyish ballads to swinging numbers over the years; American popular music came of age through Sinatra's microphone, and I think a careful reading of Clark brings this home -- be sure to have the recordings handy to play in the background while you read. His movies? I tend to like them more than I should because FS is in them, but seriously how many times can you watch the Rat Pack movies and enjoy them (once is pushing it...).

For what it's worth, I have found most of Mr. Clarke's comments regarding albums to be spot on. I own nearly 50 FS albums, and when I think about the ones I play most often they tend to coincide with albums Clarke portrays favorably.

The author takes advantage of the public's adoration of Diana, and writes a book about nonsense. She could expound on the color of dirt for an entire chapter. Mary Clarke writes, for the most part, about herself. WHO CARE'S?!

No, I don't agree with the earlier review. I didn't find this a story about the author as much as a story about what it's like inside the home of an English lord. I see no more straying to personal storytelling than can be found in the books by Stephen Barry about his life as valet to Prince Charles.

Is this a rose-colored view of Diana's childhood? Perhaps. I'll allow the author the privilege of her opinion. Afterall, she was closer to the subject than us outsiders and thus may be right. I feel it is worth taking what the author says into consideration.

The first edition of this book is wonderful. Good writing and clear, easy to understand graphics made this book a must-have for anyone interested in computer cartography. I came at this book from an robotics standpoint and soon decided that this book would make a great addition to my personal library (I had checked out the 1st edition from the department's library). When I saw that the 2nd edition was out, I thought "Hey! Even better!" Sad to say, I was wrong. I will be charitable and assume that Clarke must have been rushed into putting this edition out without the chance to check his work. In the Preface, he mentions that the second edition was ported over to a new word processor, redrafted every figure inthe book and captured images directly into the word processor from the sample applications. This admission only makes me wonder: What went wrong?? The figures are not registered correctly, oversized to the point that key sub figures and parts of figures are totally missing and labels are even missing or (worse) labeling the wrong thing! Some specific examples are figures 6.02, 6.03 and 8.07 in the first edition, now 8.2, 8.3 and 10.6 in the second. In all three cases, the 2nd edition figures are oversized. In the case of figure 6.03/8.3, "Freeman codes as a line data structure," the lines are so fat and unregistered that the figure is no longer clearly understandable. Even worse is figure 8.07/10.6, "Dutton's fractal enhancement for coastlines" In the first edition, this figure is in two parts; the first shows how the fractal enhancement algorithm shifts data points to improve the overall appearance of the coastline, while the second part shows a sample low-resolution coastline and the associated fractally-enhanced coastline. In the second edition figure, only the first subfigure is visible, bloated to the point that it makes little sense to anyone who hasn't seen the first edition figure. Worse yet, the second subfigure is completely missing! Without that, the diagram is without visual context and makes no sense. Just to be fair, I took both editions and showed them around the department and asked the quesiton: Is either book a first draft? If so, which? If not, which is second edition and which is forst edition? The answer came back unanimous that the so-called second edition must be the rough draft, with the older, first edition as the actual published draft. When the truth was revealed, reactions ranged from laughter to shock and even to anger that quality control in the publishing industry had fallen so low. Considering that cartography is primarily a visual medium, mistakes of this caliber are simply inexcusable. In contrast, the writing is still of good quality. However, without understandable figures associated with the concepts presented in text, what were simple ideas and insightful statements have become instead cryptic and confusing. It is really a shame to see such a good book fall so far. I still strongly reccomend the first edition of this book (if you can find it). DO NOT buy the second editon unless you really need it. Your money would be better spent calling Mr. Clarke to complain. Sorry, but that' the way I see it.

This book is an overall collection of Arthur C. Clarke's theories , mathematical equations , and abstract ideas about space travel , and means of obtaining interplanetary flight. The book includeds articles from when Arthur C. Clarke first started writing and a comic book that Arthur C. Clarke used to read as a small child. My opinion of the book is one of : It accomplishes its tasks by providing Arthur C. Clarke's theories and mathematical equations on space travel , but who wants to read those things anyway. Let the rocket scientists figure those things out , let us the people dream about it through science fiction.

The book is very informative (on the basics) for the beginner. There are many new high pro parts that came into the market from the time the book was printed (1991) leaving it out of date. But....There are many good explanations on why a part was used, this will help a person to make a better decision on what part to go with themselves. There are a lot of good pictures, diagrams and technical notes to help, also many phone numbers to call for parts and help. 21 projects in all, if you have a 350 - 400 Chevy and need to find out where to start this is a good place to go to get some ideas. Over all I like the information presented in this book for the year it was written.

The Doctor and Ace are attending a jazz performance when the Doctor pocket watch alarm goes off. He has set it to remind himself of something - but what? Something important as a number of people converge on Windsor - a group of Nazis, a sorceress from the 17th century, and the Cybermen...

This story is a bit over-packed with opponents, and features an attempt to make the Doctor more mysterious again, and so sadly ends up being confusing and frustrating. The main problem is that not very much happens, and we keep getting hinted at that there is more than meets the eye.

From my reading, scratching the surface just reveals even more surface. A bit of waste of time and effort.

I found that this work included a number of interesting concepts, however, it fell short of the expectation its title sets: An understanding of the science that can lead practitioners to providing safe aromatherapy.

Many essential oils have been subjected to intensive scrutiny by such organizations as RIFM. This book includes few references to this critical body of work. Many of the resources it quotes do not themselves have references; therefore readers don't know if recommendations are based on research, on a given author's experience, or urban legend. The book's recommendations and advice draw from all three categories.

The book also includes some emphasis on a non-standard approach to essential oil chemistry, relying on the evaluation of two qualities and drawing conclusions based on the assumptions of this minimal evaluation.

The book is informal and accessible. Sometimes the tone changed from chatty to pedantic; not a fatal flaw, but an irritant.

The consequences of misunderstanding essential oils can be painful (witness those suffering from burns and allergies from the use of undiluted irritants and sensitizers). Therefore practitioners should have a solid understanding of the underlying science of aromatherapy; then those who like the theories of a few fringe folks can virtuously "go on" to study with their gurus. Sadly, this book is not one that will give folks the broad scope of real science leading to safe use of aromatherapy.

I read this book in order to review my mathematical knowledge and discovered 16 mistakes. Some were typos ( => was used where <=> was needed.); some were factual (a kilometer "... approximating to 1.609 miles."); and some were mathematical (p. 47 "countable (denumerable)" The set of rational numbers, for example, is countable..."; p. 54 "denumerable set" "The set of rational numbers, on the other hand, is not denumerable..."). I emailed the editor and got no response. I found these in the 3rd edition paperback.

This is a book that purports to tell the history of vodka. It was originally undertaken to prove that 'vodka' was invented first in Russia in an attempt to fight off attempts by Poles to usurp the name 'vodka' in international trade.

Though there is undoubtedly much research that went into this work, the author does his readers a great disservice by his arrogance and cultural prejudices. Though his facts seem solid, his interpretation tends to be circular and often one conclusion is built on a whole chain of very shaky intermediate claims. His main conclusion, that vodka was invented not only soley by Russians, but in Moscow as well, is reached, by among other devices, carefully defining the product first.

Nonetheless, the work is of some interest, but it really does need to be taken with more than a grain of salt. It will have to do until a more comprehensive and fair work is produced in the English language.

Both Against the Fall of Night and The City and the Stars are wonderful stories, beautifully written

Gregory Benford's "sequel" is incoherent mishmash. I kept jumping paragraphs hoping the story would get clearer. It didn't.

Forget this book entirely and get the original Arthur C Clarke story (Against the Fall of Night) combined with The Lion of Comarre.

I've never read a Gregory Benford story before and this turned me off so much I don't plan to read another.

'Against the fall of night', and 'City and the Stars' were one of the best stories ACC wrote.

It is a pity that Mr Benson didn't read either of them.

'Beyond the fall of night' takes some of the characters of ACC's book and reduces them. In fact, he appears to change so much of the original story that it is virtually unrecognisable. I find it difficult to believe that this is an 'authorised' sequel, since it contradicts much of what is written in the first book. The packaging of the book (putting the original in with the sequel) means that the contradictions are glaring (how come the moon was restored to completeness when it was destroyed by the weapon at Shalmarine?). The magnificence of the original novel has been lost in a hodgepodge of characters, ferris wheels and a pineapple spaceship. What?

Not recommended for anyone who has read the original. I think it was a mistake for Mr Benson to write this novel, and a mistake for Mr Clarke to let him.

I read "Against the Fall of Night" about six times in the last sixteen years. It is by far my most favorite sci-fi book. I can't say the same for Mr. Benford's continuation.

The great fun of Clarke's portion is the sense of wonder it gives you. He never goes in great depths about the technology or history of this universe. He gives you a general idea and goes no further. Since this story is placed billions of years in the future, this is fine. Could one of us really understand such a world? Benford goes to great lengths to explain the workings of technologies. In doing so, he takes out the fun. He also de-humanizes many of the original characters. Clarke left it to us (mostly) to determine what these people are like. Benford turns them into bubble-headed aliens.

Another problem I have with Benford's novella is massive inconsistencies. As an example, Clarke sets up a future where the moon was destroyed long ago when it began to fall out of orbit. Flip over to Benford's tome and the protagonist visits the moon and it is inhabited!! Never does Benford explain why the moon suddenly exists.

If you have never read "Against the Fall of Night", you should get this book. However, I wouldnt waste my time reading the second half.