Don't miss the very first page (the one about Emily Brontë life),
then read Lucasta Miller's preface, skip both the excellent Pauline Nestor introduction and the controversial "Charlotte's materials" (the Biographical Notice and the Preface to the New), and -giving an attentive glance to the Genealogical Tree- go to the text (perusing the notes).

Afterwards you will do well to read the previously skipped material, and, perhaps some months later, to peruse the escellent Bibliography. Have a haunting, unforgettable read!

Also check out Miller's Aerofax Minigraphs (mostly also out of print) about the X-15, the X-1, etc. They contain more specific information about each plane. For instance, the X-15 Minigraph contains information about *every* flight the X-15 ever did, captive and launched flights.

To my knowledge, there isn't an audiobook version of the full text. But there are a couple of gushing extracts contained on the Naxos compilation '1000 Years of Laughter' which demonstrate that it isn't just the troubled spelling which make the book so amusing. The introduction to those extracts lead us to believe that JM Barrie, who wrote the introduction, could have had much to do with the entire work. Certainly once Barrie had died, she never wrote again, but my feeling is that the nine-year-old Ashford probably was the author. The story is less than 60 pages long, and can be enjoyed in a couple of sittings, then repeatedly re-read.

This work is likely to experience a dramatic surge in popularity this year. A TV adaptation starring Jim Broadbent (of 'Moulin Rouge' fame) will be broadcast, and this recently overlooked masterpiece will return to prominence once again.

This book was written by an eight year old girl some time around the turn of the century. It is a story of courtship. The author had read many of the clasic novels on the subject. Combined with the experiences of a child, the result is a book filled with unintentional humour.

The result is that her characters are at once children and adults. When taken for a ride in a cariage, her heroin kneels on her trunk and looks out the window, bouncing up and down in her excitement. When Mr. Salteena, whose ambition it is to be a "real gentleman," is presented at court the Prince of Whales offers him ice cream. When he goes to visit London, Mr. Salteena sees nothing improper about sending the heroin to stay with the hero, unchaperoned. They fall in love and marry, much to the disapointment of Mr. Salteena who loves her too. He consoles himself by eating some of the wonderful deserts at their wedding supper.

This is one of the funniest books ever written.

This was my first David Miller book. I have always been interested in modern iconography and like the majority of the western world am fascinated by Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee. I bought "The Zen of Muhammad Ali" purely on face value. It was short and had an interesting title, which, in my mind, made it stand out amongst the rest of the heavily illustrated Ali merchandise currently being sold off the back of the Columbia Pictures/Michael Mann "Ali" film.

What I discovered was a deep, addictive read that I could relate to. Like me, Miller had ambitions on being a successful martial artist and author, but was prepared to learn from the lessons life taught him. He has his heroes and was fortunate enough to get to know two of them, Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard. Upon discovering their human sides and Bruce Lee's too, he does not then fall into the common media trap of ruthlessly dissecting them, but instead holds a mirror up to himself and those who decide to propagate the mythology of these figures. He makes a sound argument that through pushing these figures as modern-day gods and adding falsities to their lives devalues them as human beings. This is examined in full in his Bruce Lee essay in the book, "Bruce Lee, American."

After reading his four essays on his time with Ali, two on Sugar Ray Leonard and his one on Bruce Lee, I felt a better understanding and level of respect for these celebrities. I came from a showbusiness background myself and have seen first hand how harsh and seemingly unfair the media can be in their attempts to tell the "truth". Therefore, it was refreshing to see that Miller's frankness lacks the usual arrogant and condescending attitude too often seen in tabloids and unauthorised biographies. Instead he writes always with a close examination of his own mortality and often, by use of self-comparison, further shows why these great men truly are "great." This is never more evident than in his article "Wanting to Whup Sugar Ray."

The third part of the book, entitled "Personal Struggles", appeared, at my first glance at the contents page, to be a disappointing anti-climax. This could not be further from the truth and is in fact my personal favourite. The section starts with an inspired fictional short story and then follows on with real-life accounts of his life, which really touch upon the American Dream philosophy I spoke about earlier. These essays are sometimes sad, sometimes optimistic and always very human. Not being American, I found Davis Miller's work to be a warm and humble introduction to the culture he grew up in. Many can learn from his honest and gentle approach to the human spirit and the life it helps create.