The Hardys go to Hawaii to see a total eclipse. But as soon as the sun is covered by the moon, a murder takes place. This is another average Hardy Boys book. Plenty of action, but nothing extraordinary.

From page 110, part of Hardy's treatment of Dylan Thomas's early poem "The Force that Through the Green Fuse":

'The topos of reflexivity is a figure in a poem which makes explicit what is implicitly being said throughout the poem about creativity in the largest sense of the word.'

Unquote! Safe to say that this book can be skipped. Even more of a displeasure than the occasional abstruseness of the prose, however, is Hardy's relentless intrusion of her own personality, her own politics, her own life story, into what is ostensibly a book about Dylan Thomas's prose and poetry. In remarks about the poem "If My Head Hurt a Hair's Foot," Hardy loftily proclaims that because of her ardent feminism, she had qualms about a poem written by a man on the theme of pregnancy. Well, forgive us, Mrs Hardy, but who cares? Hardy praises Dylan Thomas's freedom from the insanity of nationalism (as if nationalism were the 20th century's foremost political evil!), but after raising the topic of politics (hardly germane to most of Thomas's work), she doesn't speculate as to whether Thomas's romanticizing of socialism and communism was particularly astute.

Finally, and this is the most damnable offense, she tells us absolutely nothing new about the poetry or prose of Dylan Thomas; she tells us nothing that could not have been gleaned from Ackerman's book WELSH DYLAN, or Paul Ferris's biography of Dylan Thomas, or William York Tindall's monumental (if sometimes complex) READER'S GUIDE TO DYLAN THOMAS, or the "Twentieth Century Views" collection of essays, edited by C. B. Cox.

Anything to praise about Hardy's work? Well, there is evidence of intelligence in the writing (and a Richard Howard-like fondness for the French or Latin expression where a plain old Saxon one will do quite nicely); her exploration of the alliterative patterns in "After the Funeral" is first-rate; and she is willing to focus her scrutiny on poems and other works by Thomas that do not often benefit from critical attention ("On No Work of Words," "Once It Was the Colour of Saying," and the stories in "Portrait ... Young Dog"). She does admire Dylan Thomas, has read him thoroughly, and her praises are never at the expense of an appropriate critical caution. Still, not enough here to redeem what is ultimately an oppressively stodgy book, far from essential to the admirer of Thomas, and marred by the author's need to make pronouncements and self-admiring references that are neither relevant nor engaging.

pentagono syste

For anyone who desires to know about the mechanics and history of calligraphy, this book will prove valuable. However, its abundance of text may be daunting to beginning calligraphers, who desire more simple instruction. Advanced calligraphers may learn new techniques, but I would only recommend this volume to those who are willing to sift through superfluous information.

Someone wants to kill a champion surfer. In steps Frank and Joe. This is really nothing new for a Hardy Boys book. Fast paced action and stuff like that, but it's not nearly the best of the series.

Frank and Joe Hardy aid their friend Phil Cohen in trying to find a missing software designer. A true computer "nerd" would really love this story because of all of the high tech gadgets that almost do in the Hardys. A weak spot is that a couple of loose ends are not tied up, such as when the boys' van gets totalled as they are trying to avoid exploding computerized bats, and no mention is ever made as to how they will recoup their loss. One would figure that some mention might be made that the computer company's president awards them with a brand new van for helping save his company. Little things like this prevent the newer stories from being as well-written as the older ones.

A collection of sample graphics, ads, letterheads, etc. with instructions for their use.

When the Hardys discover stolen artifacts in Bayport, they decide to stop the smuggling at the source. Plenty of fast-paced action makes this a good kids book. I recommend this to any Hardy Boys fan.

I laughed my way across the desert southwest as a pre teen in the early 80s, with this book as the source of my mirth. There are some interesting points to be had for the young man interested in survival, but at the expense of some painfully bad writing: "Frank listened appreciatively to the rhythmic beat of the modern Jazz which Joe preferred."

Great fun in a campy, Brady Bunch sort of way.

An interesting collection of essays on the architecture of theatres across the country. The best part, though are the photos. Very high quality, and amazing.