The eBay Myth-Buster: Turn 199 Misconceptions Into Money (For Dummies Series)

Book Description

This groundbreaking book shatters such common beliefs as the highest bid determines the final price, Sunday night is the best time to end auctions, and more
Pioneer eBay seller David Busch shows buyers how to find bargains through misspelled words, items that are incorrectly categorized, and other "hidden auctions"
Packed with unpublished secrets for eBay success, this book provides the real story behind each myth and supplies proven success techniques
Explains how multiple accounts can benefit sellers, where to find truly free shipping, and how to identify items that will produce the highest profit
The author shares his imaginative solutions that have resulted in thousands of profitable eBay transactions

Customer Reviews:

The eBay Myth-Bu$ter: An excellent start.......2007-05-07

Being a New Zealander, naturally I prefer to use Trademe.co.nz as that is our local Australasian auction site!

Being focused specifically with busting myths about online auctions Myth-Bu$ter is quite specialised. However, many of the principles found in the book can also be applied to any other local auction sites such as Trademe.

I wholeheartedly recommend the book to kiwis, but (to use a pun) the book does require some unencryption from the American language!

Incredibly useful and concise.......2006-04-07

I have been a buyer on ebay for a couple of years and would like to get started selling. Due to a combination of procrastination and lack of confidence I have not yet taken the leap. Well, now I have the confidence to try. All of my lingering questions were answered by this book. It doesn't walk you through getting started, that would be a waste since that info is available from so many other sources. But it does address things like determining when to start and finish an auction, how long to set the auction for, when to use Buy it Now or set reserve prices, etc.

The author has a really great writing style- not cutesy or gimmicky and very readable. (I read the book in one day- I should have been sleeping, but I couldn't put it down.) He gives great examples of different scenarios that help the reader to be better able apply the information. He tells us his opinion and the opinions of others- he does not bash ebay or paypal but he does give honest observations of some of their practices and services -whether good or bad or simply necessary. I have read alot of informational type books on various subjects lately and reading this one was a really refreshing change of pace. Mr. Busch wrote with confidence but there was nothing self-congratulatory about his style at all- he was even charmingly self-deprecating at times (but not cutesy- I hate that!) The book has very straight forward advice and doesn't waste time trying to hype one way of doing things over another.

Mr. Busch's personal business style is also very appealing and one that I would be happy to emulate. As a buyer, I wish more sellers would follow his example. As a buyer I have often wondered if it was really necessary to put all of those terms and conditions and warnings in the auction- I thought there must just be a ton of bad buyers out there to warrant such practice- but now I know differently. I also find it extremely annoying when I encounter animation or overly busy backgrounds and - worst of all- sound and music when I view an auction.

This book would be great for anyone- there are great tips for buyers- a couple that I will definitely put into use. I would recommend that a person get a little bit of experience on ebay as a buyer before reading this book- then you will really know what is being described and it will have more meaning because you can apply it to your own experiences. A few transactions would really be all it takes. But definitely get this book!!

Excellent Resource.......2006-02-21

My veiw is, you can never read enough books on the subject of eBay. There is always something new you can learn from any book on the subject. I am still an "amateur" but, things are looking good for an amateur...please critique me if you wish:

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=nydancingangels

Happy selling!

Best Regards,
Mersada
@
NYC Trend Setters Outlet....on eBAy.

Clearly one of the better eBay books........2006-01-30

In attempting to get started on eBay as a seller, I read about 10 books. Most covered the same ground, in pretty much the same way. I appreciated Mr.Busch's approach and believe I got more out of this one book than the others that I read up till then. This book is very good.

clears the air.......2005-09-13

Busch hopes to disabuse common misconceptions circulating amongst many eBay users. He presupposes that you have already done some buying or selling on eBay. He goes straight into explaining various aspects. Like how sniping is not against the rules or even the spirit of the auction. And even if it was, it is very problematic that this could be banned.

Another common topic he addresses is that if you lose an auction by $1, say, that somehow if you had bidded $2, you would have won the item. This is not necessarily so. The winner might have placed a maximum bid of $20 above yours. But the eBay mechanism only charged the winner $1 about your bid, which was the second highest.

If you are planning on using eBay frequently, you might want to slowly go through this book. It could be a huge time and worry saver.

Average customer rating:

A SUMMER READING I ACTUALLY ENJOYED
A World War II Story
B for Buster
A wild ride
B for Buster: unfortunate title, great book

B for Buster
Iain Lawrence
Manufacturer: Laurel Leaf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Adventure & Thrillers | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

Historical Fiction | History & Historical Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Teen Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0440238102
Release Date: 2006-01-10

Book Description

Nicknamed after his hometown of Kakabeka, Canada, Kak dreams of flying with the Allied bombers in World War II. So at 16, underage and desperate to escape his abusive parents, he enlists in the Canadian Air Force. Soon he is trained as a wireless operator and sent to a squadron in England, where he’s unabashedly gung ho about flying his first op. He thinks the night ops over Germany will be like the heroic missions of his favorite comic-book heroes. Good will vanquish evil. But his first time out, in a plane called B for Buster, reveals the ops for what they really are—a harrowing ordeal.

The bombing raids bring searchlights . . . artillery from below . . . and night fighters above hunting to take the bombers down. One hit, Kak knows, and B for Buster, along with him and his six crewmates, could be destroyed.

Kak is terrified.

He can’t confide his feelings to his crew, since he’s already worried that they’ll find out his age. Besides, none of them seem afraid. Only in Bert, the slovenly caretaker of the homing pigeons that go on every op, does Kak find an unlikely friend. Bert seems to understand what the other men don’t talk about—the shame, the sense of duty, and the paralyzing fear. As Kak seeks out Bert’s company, he somehow finds the strength to face his own uncertain future.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

A SUMMER READING I ACTUALLY ENJOYED.......2006-08-30

I chose this book off a list of books to read over the summer. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good WWII story that really shows the psychological toll the war took on its soldiers as well as page-turning action. A book that I thought would take me a month to read, I read in three days. Its one you can't put down.

A World War II Story.......2006-05-22

" We tumbled down in a circle of fire, corkscrewing down to the ground. I could see my parachute but couldn't reach it." This is a quote from the book B for Buster written by Iain Lawrence. B for Buster is a book about a 16 year old boy named Kak who lies about his age to join the Canadian Air Force during World War II. Kak soon finds himself in England where he becomes the radio operator on an old Air Force bomber called B for Buster. Kak is terrified and discovers very early that the Air Force is not at all what he thought it would be. He realizes that he made a terrible mistake enlisting.

I really enjoyed this book. Although it is fiction, I think it accurately portrays the feelings and experiences of bomber crews during World War II. The book is filled with action and suspense and I didn't want to stop reading. If you like books about World War II, this is a book for you. I give it a five star rating.

B for Buster.......2006-05-20

B for buster is a wonderful book and it is about a young boy who joins the canadian airforce and starts to fly ops and is put in a old fighter plane called B for buster and one night he is in the plane looking around he thinks he finds a ghost of the people who flew before him and his crew and flew

A wild ride.......2006-04-15

My 10 year old son was given this book for his birthday. It took him a while to get around to reading it, but once he did his comments were,"When Kak joins the Air Force you're in for a wild ride". He has put this book on his 5th grade class 5 star list.

B for Buster: unfortunate title, great book.......2006-03-09

I am a school librarian and probably would not have picked up this book if it weren't for the fact that I bought it for the library and thought I should read it. Well, it was wonderful and having just finished reading The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger, another WWII book, it was a great follow-up. Granted, the two books are very different in tone and setting, but both do a excellent job of telling a story of a young man growing up in a very difficult time. I highly recommend it for teens and adults alike. It's simply a good read and what can be wrong with that?!?

Average customer rating:

Oddly fascinating

The Dam Busters
Jonathan Falconer
Manufacturer: Sutton Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Aviation | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0750940034

Book Description

In probably one of the best known and most widely told stories of the Second World War, nineteen Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, raided the great hydroelectric dams of western Germany in May 1943. Each Lancaster was equipped with the revolutionary bouncing bomb designed by the inventor Barnes Wallis, creator of the Wellington bomber. Designed to skip over the surface of the water, the bombs rotated at 500 rpm. They had to be dropped at a speed of 240 miles an hour and were set to explode while sinking to the base of the dam's retaining wall. It took five attempts to breach the Moehne Dam. Gibson then led the three remaining Lancasters to attack the Eder Dam. The unleashed floodwaters inundated the Ruhr valley below, killing thousands and causing German industry to grind to a halt. Eight of the nineteen aircraft involved in the raid failed to return to base. Wing Commander Gibson, only twenty-four at the time of the mission, was awarded the Victoria Cross. He was killed in action sixteen months later. In later years the strategic impact of the raid was deemed to be less than was thought at the time, but the boost it gave to civilian and Service morale in wartime Britain was incalculable. In 1954 the raid was immortalized in The Dambusters, starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd, who contributes a foreword to the book. A box office success, the film has become a classic, the music score being one of the best known of all time.

Customer Reviews:

Oddly fascinating.......2004-12-29

This book, written almost like a documentary script, details the Allied efforts to target German dams during World War Two. In very methodical, but also enthusiastic fashion, they figured out what plane, what bomb, what angle, what altitude, etc., were necessary to inflict maximum damage to the dams, while minimizing losses to the planes. The answer they came up with, sounds absurd, but it worked: very large, cylindrical bombs rotating backwards at a high rate of speed, causing them, when dropped, to skip along the sureface of the water, right up to the base of the dam. This story sounds very dry when described but, when I read it, I found it very intriguing.

Average customer rating:

Other Books
A Great Read, Incredible Story
Science, modern war, and how to destroy a dam.
Not just for World War II flying buffs.
True-life high adventure. TARGET: From Rhur dams to Hitler!

The Dam Busters (Pan Grand Strategy)
Paul Brickhill
Manufacturer: Pan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0330376446

Customer Reviews:

Other Books.......2007-09-03

A very well done book, with insight into this area that is engaging. Definitely a job you don't want. The story of a bunch of English bombers whose job it is to take out some strategically important German dams, unsurprisingly. Brickhill is a fine war writer, so anything on that subject by him is worth a look.

A Great Read, Incredible Story.......2006-07-04

This book reads very quickly and it's very interesting. Written by the man who wrote The Great Escape, this is a real winner for war buffs. The book goes past the dam buster mission and the attrition rate for this wing was over 50% (if I remember the book I think it was close to 100%). Just imagine using a 4 engine Lancaster on low level mission after low level mission, the courage these men had is hard to find in todays culture. I have a LOT of respect for these brave airmen. Highly recommended book.

Science, modern war, and how to destroy a dam........2004-08-18

What a great little story from WWII. I heard about this successful raid, and finally I stumbled upon this great little book describing the raid. The book starts by describing the thought process of Wallace who thought the dams would be a worthy target of British bombers. The floods would destroy factories and limit the output of water and energy in the industrial Ruhr area.
Wallace had to surmount bomber limitations, design a new type of bomb, and devise a method on how to deliver the bomb load against the side of the dam. These processes are all investigated and solved in the course of this book. The final bombing run is the high point of the book with the successful destruction of the dams. The loss in bomber crews plus the German civilian losses are also summarized. I wish the book could have focused more on the later aspects of the raid, rather than the science that went in solving how to destroy the dams. Otherwise a great read.

Not just for World War II flying buffs........2003-09-17

This story is a writer's godsend - a fantastic story that has historical implications, interesting characters that are also heroes, very important situations and settings, tension and high drama. Brickhill does a great job telling the story of the squadron that became known as the Dambusters. This book gives us the story behind the raid - he science and hard work developing the technology behind the success. It also follows the further raids of the men of 617, and the development of the bombing technology as the war continues.

Brickhill balances the story between the technology and the human. All of 617 come across as sterling chaps, which is to be expected. I was surprised that the writing in this book did not seem dated, considering when it was written.

While not really `faults' there are some `less than perfections': while Cochrane, Wallis, Gibson and Chester all are clear and memorable characters (these are major players in the book), many other characters get the occasional mention here and there that leaves you wondering `And which one was he?' This is also a book aimed a people with military knowledge. Therefore if a reader is not completely au fait with military terms (or fortunate enough to have someone nearby who is, like I was) you may occasionally feel a bit clueless. And after the last major action of the book - the sinking of the Tirpitz - the book seems to lose its edge (though the epilogue is a very good roundup of what happened to whom). But overall this is an entertaining read by a great writer about an exciting story. Not just for World War II flying buffs.

True-life high adventure. TARGET: From Rhur dams to Hitler!.......1997-08-08

I first read this story as a freshman in high school and couldn't put it down! I have re-read the book several times since then. The adventures of 617 Squadron have all of the elements of an Indiana Jones movie; from the most inovative, fantastic, and bizarre ideas (five-ton bouncing bombs to ten-ton, earthquake producing "Tall Boy" bombs) to shear, white-knuckle, edge-of-your-seat danger (low-level night flying over Nazi Germany). Check out Paul Brickhill's "The Great Escape" and "Reach for the Sky." You won't be disapointed

Average customer rating:

Nigel Wilkinson
Falconer does it again.....

Filming the Dam Busters
Jonathan Falconer
Manufacturer: Sutton Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0750937122

Book Description

The daring raid on the great dams of western Germany by Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron in May 1943 is probably one of the best known and most widely told stories of the Second World War. In 1955 the raid was immortalized on film by director Michael Anderson in The Dam Busters, starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd. It became Britain's top grossing film of 1955 and in the half-century that has followed, thanks to its almost annual airing on the small screen, it has become a film classic. It is also a firm favorite with aviation enthusiasts due in no small measure to the breathtaking flying sequences featuring the Avro Lancaster. Tucked away in the Pinewood Studios archives are hundreds of rarely seen 'still' photographs from the making of the film. Including everything from storyboarding to location shots, and from the stars and personalities to the aircraft themselves, it is estimated that only about 10 per cent of these high quality pictures have ever been published before. In this book they are supplemented by stunning and previously unpublished air-to-air photographs, taken by the aircrews who flew the Lancasters on camera. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and interviews with film unit and flying personnel, Filming the Dam Busters evokes the optimistic outlook of the new postwar Elizabethan Age, when British cinema had a force and reach not equalled before or since.

Customer Reviews:

Nigel Wilkinson.......2007-08-07

This is an excellent addition to the film which is rated as one of the best of the Second World War.

Falconer does it again............2005-10-23

Jonathan Falconer has written a very accessible and informative account of the making of one of the best war films ever produced, the story of the innovative and daring WWII mission by the RAF's famed 617 squadron destruction of the Mohne' and Eder dams in Germany's Ruhr Valley in May 1943. For Falconer, this book is a labor of love and follows on his excellent and well illustrated book "The Dam Busters" about the raid itself. With that love comes a committment to detail and thoroughness about the filming of the 1955 movie..finding the by then scarce four Lancaster bombers to use in the film, their modifications including painting different idenifications on both sides to allow the filmakers to create the illusion of more than four planes, lead actor Richard Todd who played Wing Commander Guy Gibson's insistance on wearing the same hard to find Luftwaffe flotation device the real Gibson wore and prized, how the filmakers improvised to show a bouncing bomb which when the film was made was still a secret. The book includes descriptions of filming the flying sequences including some harrowing low level formation scenes over water, and interviews with the pilots who flew those scenes. There is also a description of the post production work in the days before digital special effects including construction of giant models of the dams and their environs. The resulting production was not only a very popular film in it's day but also a well researched, accurate description of the real story itself. The film lives on as a recently released DVD. Anyone who has seen the film will find this book informative, well illustrated, and a worthy addition to ones library on WWII aviation, movie making, or the Dams raid itself.

Sub Busters: Countering the Submarine Threat (Osprey Colour Series)

Average customer rating:

Sub Busters: Countering the Submarine Threat (Osprey Colour Series)
Hans Halberstadt
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing (UK)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Aviation | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books

History of Technology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1855321475

Arbuckle And Keaton: Their 14 Film Collaborations

Average customer rating:

Great book on a fascinating subject, superbly researched, wonderfully assembled! A must for comedy fans and everyone else!
Instant Classic
Finally! An in-depth look at Arbuckle's movies
Silent Film Comedy Has Another Worthy Book

Arbuckle And Keaton: Their 14 Film Collaborations
James L. Neibaur
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0786428317
Release Date: 2006-12-13

Product Description

From 1917 to 1919, Joseph Schenck produced a series of Comique comedies starring master movie comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring an apprentice, Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton. These films were initially deemed significant by modern archivists for representing the first movie appearances of Keaton, widely considered one of the most important figures in motion picture history. But the Comique films also remain the most important of Arbuckle's career because they feature him at the height of his cinematic genius and powers. The 14 short comedies starring Arbuckle and Keaton are incredibly important to the history of cinema and are analyzed in this book. After two chapters of biographical introductions, the rest of the book discusses their collaborative efforts and reveals the way in which the films evolved from Arbuckle's wild slapstick to feature more of the subtlety and cleverness of Keaton. Closing sections discuss what became of Arbuckle and Keaton afterward, commenting significantly on the scandal that undermined Arbuckle's career.

Customer Reviews:

Great book on a fascinating subject, superbly researched, wonderfully assembled! A must for comedy fans and everyone else! .......2007-02-01

Just in time for the 90th anniversary of the historic collaboration between silent-comedy giants Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, film historian James L. Neibaur offers the marvelous McFarland & Co. paperback ARBUCKLE AND KEATON: THEIR 14 FILM COLLABORATIONS. This superbly researched and richly detailed volume is a valuable and vital addition to the libraries of comedy fans in particular and movie lovers in general.

Although the basic career outlines of both Arbuckle and Keaton are virtually common knowledge to most comedy aficionados, Neibaur brings a bright new perspective and a wealth of fresh historical material regarding his subject(s). The fourteen two-reel comedies produced by the Comique Film Corporation between 1917 and 1919, starring veteran movie funster Fatty Arbuckle with cinematic novice Buster Keaton in support, are analyzed in the order of production and release, permitting the viewer to witness not only what McFarland describes as the "collaborative chemistry" between Fatty and Buster, but also the creative growth and evolution of the two men during this prolific and rewarding period in their careers.

Too often, the story of the Arbuckle-Keaton comedies is told from the perspective of Keaton's staunchest supporters, heralding Buster's development from featured player to star while minimizing the contributions of Arbuckle--which is not only unfair, given that Fatty was a major box-office attraction of the period, an accomplished director, and the sole raison d'etre for the films in the first place, but also historically inaccurate. While Neibaur acknowledges that Arbuckle initially preferred wild, unbridled slapstick catering to what he regarded as the "twelve-year-old mentality" of the average filmgoer, and that Keaton was convinced even this early in his career that the audience was capable of grasping more subtle and intelligent comedy concepts, the author shows how both men complemented one another and benefited from collaboration on an equal basis.

In the earliest of the fourteen comedies, Arbuckle was already demonstrating a firm grasp of filmmaking technique and consistent comedy characterization, but he was still doggedly adhering to the tried-and-true "gags for gags' sake" formula of his earlier Keystone films, frequently throwing plot and logic out the window in the pursuit of nonstop laughter. With the benefit of Keaton's input--which Neibaur meticulously traces and pinpoints from one film to the next--the final entries in the Arbuckle-Keaton series were, in Neibaur's words, "critically applauded for offering less in the way of knockabout slapstick and concentrating more on thoughtful gags stemming from character and situation."

At the same time, Keaton was receiving valuable on-the-job training in support of Arbuckle, in preparation for his own ultimate stardom. Though his comic timing and physical prowess are remarkable to behold in the earliest collaborations, it must be admitted that he is less a character than an outline of a character. Working in close quarters with a charismatic (and generous) performer like Arbuckle enabled Keaton to grow and mature as performer, matriculating from merely another vaudevillian with a clever bag of tricks to a wholly believable human being. Also, Neibaur notes that Keaton's legendary "great stone face" was the end product of extensive trial and error throughout the Arbuckle films, in which Buster experimented with a vast array of broad facial expressions before finally settling upon the minimalism that worked best for him. (The familiar story of how Keaton discovered in childhood that he got bigger laughs by not smiling on stage is repeated herein: However, the author clarifies that it was Buster's painstaking apprenticeship with Arbuckle that led him to conclude that he could continue getting big laughs by not smiling in the radically different medium of film).

The book offers an insightful critical assessment of each film, with special attention given the brilliant and remarkably sophisticated parody melodrama MOONSHINE. And though he rightly cherishes these films as being just as "alive" and entertaining today as they were when first released, Neibaur also does a fine job placing the fourteen comedies in their proper historical context, most often by quoting rare contemporary print reviews that haven't seen the light of day for nearly nine decades. Mention must also be made of the author's skillful assessment of the appalling racial humor in one of the lesser films, OUT WEST. Where some writers would issue a blanket condemnation of the Arbuckle-Keatons on the basis of this one offensive film, while others would bend over backward trying to apologize for the most egregious gags as merely "products of their time", Neibaur takes a refreshingly brand-new approach to one of the touchiest issues facing 21st-century film historians.

The chapter I enjoyed most focused on the handful of two-reelers made by Arbuckle during the period in which Keaton was absent from the studio, serving in the Army. Although only two of these films are currently extant--and those have only been rediscovered in the past decade--Neibaur is able to persuasively argue that films at hand not only prove that Arbuckle was putting the lessons learned in his collaborations with Keaton to good use, but also that "Arbuckle's own abilities were the reason for the success of these two reelers", and that they can now be seen as a "transition" in the comedian's comic vision.

The thumbnail descriptions of Arbuckle and Keaton's careers before and after their collaboration offer much that is new and fascinating, including interviews with coworkers Lionel Stander (who appeared Arbuckle's final Vitaphone talkie short, 1933's IN THE DOUGH) and Lorna Gray (Keaton's leading lady in his first Columbia two-reeler, 1939's PEST FROM THE WEST). Especially noteworthy is Neibaur's take on the spectacular scandal that destroyed Arbuckle's career: Not only does the author observe that the comedian's starring features remained popular in Europe even though they'd been banned in puritanical America, but he also provides a fair-and-balanced compendium of facts and opinions demonstrating that the "whole truth" concerning Arbuckle's involvement (or lack of same) in the death of Virginia Rappe is a matter that is still--and always will be--shrouded in mystery and muddied by wildly contradictory first-hand accounts.

Finally, Neibaur pays brief but affectionate tribute to a pair of often-underrated contributors to the popularity of the Arbuckle-Keaton comedies: Fatty's talented nephew Al St. John, who of course went on to a rewarding "second stardom" as a B-western comical sidekick, and pert leading lady Alice Lake, whose subsequent life and career is here treated in far more depth than I've ever seen previously.

In short--BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!

Instant Classic.......2007-01-31

Jim Neibaur's "Arbuckle And Keaton: Their 14 Film Collaborations" is a nearly flawless book on Roscoe Arbuckle's silent film comedies of 1917-1920, which also happen to be Buster Keaton's earliest films. All 14 films discussed are studied in depth, including a look at Arbuckle's films sans Keaton while Buster was in the Army in 1918-19, plus interesting details on Roscoe's nephew and comic foil, Al St. John as well as his leading lady Alice Lake.

What is really refreshing about Neibaur's book is that he gives the vastly underrated Roscoe Arbuckle his WELL deserved due as a film comedy master, but never at the expense of the genius that is Buster Keaton.

If you are a Keaton and/or Arbuckle fan, your book collection is incomplete without this staple. It supersedes all previous work on the Comique years. And it's a good read!

David B. Pearson
"Arbucklemania"

Finally! An in-depth look at Arbuckle's movies.......2007-01-12

For years, discussions of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle mostly centered around the unfortunate scandal that ruined his career rather than his career itself. Based on a relative handful of circulating films, Arbuckle was deemed an amusing silent-era comedian who was never ranked alongside giants like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. Recently, however, a number of Arbuckle's best comedies have been restored and made available for public viewing, and guess what? It turns out that good old Fatty (a nickname he disliked) was actually one of the greatest comedic performers of the silver screen, from ANY era.

James L. Neibaur's ARBUCKLE AND KEATON: THEIR 14 FILM COLLABORATIONS goes a long way in reassessing Arbuckle's undervalued reputation, and finally gives the rotund funster his well-deserved due. Though this volume deals specifically with the short comedies that Keaton served as an apprentice to Arbuckle, the master, it also examines Arbuckle's career in its entirety, offering a wealth of facts and informative, trenchant observations.

If you think you're already familiar with Arbuckle's work, this book will make you seek out these films once more and perhaps solidify and/or rethink your opinions. If you've never seen Arbuckle at his peak, then this book will serve as the perfect guide to some of the funniest silent comedies ever made. Either way, ARBUCKLE AND KEATON is a real treat, and is highly recommended.

Silent Film Comedy Has Another Worthy Book.......2007-01-05

The recent books on Arbuckle have centered on his scandal (much needed though, to refute the horrible myths). This book focuses on the art, modus operandi, and the birth of the cinema Keaton. Mr. Neibaur not only gives us the facts of Arbuckle's superior Comique Comedies and his abilities as a filmaker, but he infuses this book with a love and respect for the art form of silent comedy. Mr. Neibaur also documents the historically neglected inputs from fellow Comiquians Al St. John and Alice Lake. The Arbuckle Comique Comedies from 1917-1920 are among the best of all silent comedy and provided the hot-house for future filmaker Keaton to bud, and how Arbuckle, through Keaton, influenced film comedy to this day. Well written and researched with much contemporary material, Mr. Neibaur will have you hooked after the first couple of pages. This book is a huge step in the rehabilitation of Roscoe Arbuckle and an important document on the cinema genesis of Buster Keaton, and I highly recommend it.

Average customer rating:

The Dam Busters: A British Film Guide
John Ramsden
Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Aviation | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1860646360

Book Description

An original mix of film analysis and political history, this book examines the political and cinematic significance of The Dam Busters, as both a British institution and a fine war film. A critical and popular success, the film celebrates an image of gutsy ingenuity for the "Brits at war," with the 1943 raid by Lancaster bombers on the dams of Germany's Ruhr region, using the extraordinary "bouncing bomb." Ramsden's fresh and incisive book offers an overall review of the film and its place in history. It convincingly suggests that the film's cultural impact made it difficult to assess the true value of Britain's bombing campaign.

My Wonderful World of Slapstick (Da Capo Paperback)

Average customer rating:

Very Well Written
Something Missing....
Wonderful!
My Wonderful World of Keaton
Blame 21st Century Reviewers for Not Understanding What They Read

My Wonderful World of Slapstick (Da Capo Paperback)
Buster Keaton , and Charles Samuels
Manufacturer: Da Capo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0306801787

Customer Reviews:

Very Well Written.......2007-05-28

Many people rave about Buster Keaton's work in the silent era and very few are fans of his work during the talkies. For those people, this book is an excellent read because the bulk of the material is about the gags in his silent films, various pranks played on other people of the profession, and his start on the stage. Unfortunately, this book does not delve into all of Buster's life and sometimes only gives a short overview of specific events, some good and some bad. Fans of The General will be disappointed that the only information given about the film is that it was one of Buster's personal favorites. Thankfully, though, some films get extra special attention like The Navigator, Seven Chances, Steamboat Bill Jr., and The Cameraman.

The book has an added feature. Keaton writes very well (although some credit should be given to co-write Andy Samuels). None of the dialogue is too highbrow to read, but it is intelligent stuff. Our author has certainly given his life some thought.

He could have spent more time talking about his later life, but Keaton takes the route of Mickey Rooney and simply explains that the reason he made so many bad films later in life was because of his desperate need for money. Thankfully, he is optimistic, and leaves the reader uplifted instead of brought down. This book is highly recommended.

Something Missing...........2006-11-11

Though this book was well written, entertaining and enjoyable.... Buster never wrote about THE GENERAL! (except to say it was one of his best films) Hello!!!!!! How could he not even write one paragraph about the best-known movie he created? That would be like William Shatner forgetting to mention Star Trek...... For that reason, I cannot honestly give this book more than 3 stars, much as I enjoyed it! S

Wonderful!.......2006-06-03

I really enjoyed reading this book. This should be the first book anyone reads when researching Keaton's life and trying to get a sense of his personality. You will be left with questions after finishing the book. Keaton obviously leaves out details and names in a lot of his stories but you can always fill in the gaps with another book about his life. He didn't dwell too much on the bad times in his life but he openly tells the story about his battle with alcoholism. I applaud him for showing respect to those people in his stories for which he doesn't name. These were people who hurt him in his past but he didn't bad-mouth them and never did-publicly or privately. This fact alone tells a lot about what kind of man he was. This book is a must-read for all Keaton fans.

My Wonderful World of Keaton.......2006-02-12

Yes Keaton could have told us more about his problems, but I don't think that Keaton actually dwelt on his problems as much as some of us dwell on Keaton's problems, he would rather talk about all the good things that have happened to him and there was a lot. In one of the chapters he talks about how he would like to be a millionaire, but he points out he has many things in his life that he is very happy about, his pretty wife, new car, nice house etc. I loved this book you can hear Keaton's voice in every word written and isn't that really what you want from an auto-biography.

Blame 21st Century Reviewers for Not Understanding What They Read.......2005-09-23

Despite the review voted most helpful until now (which gives this book only 3 stars), I decided to see by myself. To my surprise I found a book very different from the one portrayed by Shawn T. Marengo.

First of all, the book is not called Autobiography or My Life, but My Wonderful World of Slapstick. Oddly enough, that is its subject. So, if you are expecting to uncover deep and dark secrets, you got the wrong book. Buy a biography instead.

But you got the wrong person too. Mediocre people think that artists are guys who are lucky enough to have a sudden inspiration right at the moment when they have a pencil in their hands and a white sheet of paper in front of them, or some millions in a friend's bank account to make a movie. These people can't understand that the way Keaton made his pictures was the only way possible for him; badly put: the way he saw life. In this book we get exactly what we are promised: a world full of anecdotes, accidents, shows and practical jokes.

On page NUMBER 3 he warns those readers who like sniffing the rotten meat under the carpet: "I've had few dull moments and not too many sad and defeated ones. In saying this I am by no means overlooking the rough and rocky years I've lived through. But I was not brought up thinking life would be easy. I always expected to work hard for my money and to get nothing I did not earn. And the bad years, it seems to me, were so few that only a dyed-in-the-wool grouch who enjoys feeling sorry for himself would complain."

If after reading this your first thought is: he's lying, then probably you are the kind of person who delights in other people's misfortunes but, most important, one who sees misfortunes where they're not. After all, every life is unique and if you are going to compare Keaton with, let's say Chaplin, who had always control over his films but, after the 20's were gone, made one worst than the other... Then I don't know how and who is to judge if a life is a failure or not.

There are other things in Shawn Marengo's review. He says the book is full of mistakes. But they are all about movie titles, and they were all corrected in the later edition so... big deal. Then he puts in evidence his lack of understanding by asking how could Keaton have forgotten the name of his first short-film. Answer: probably because once he did something he didn't bother to see it again, like so many artists. The Reviewer upstairs then asks, "Why would molasses be sold in a butcher shop?". A: because it's only a movie. And then he confuses an anecdote Keaton tells about something that happens "off-camera", with a similar anecdote that is in one of the films, and he says there's something "screwy" in the writing of this book. I think there's something screwy in your reading.

This reviewer also complains of not hearing "nothing about the probable horror of his serving in France during World War 1". But Keaton spent in France only the last seven months of the war. His group was the last to arrive, and they saw (as he says right there) "little but rain and mud." No wonder he doesn't talk about the "probable horrors"... And he does talk about his losing his hearing and how he almost gets shot by an American guard for not having heard him say, "Who goes there?" Isn't tat enough horror for you?

And then there is the silly idea that publishers know better than writers what they book should be like. "If the book were written 20 years later, the publisher would have demanded a more in-depth study of his life, and if Keaton refused, they probably would not have released it", he says. Nonsense. Publishers are as good an artist as a movie producer, and we know that Buster made his best films when least bothered by them. I don't see why this case would be any different.

And last: if you already know the facts of his life for what you have read in other books or on the internet or anywhere else: Why do you keep asking to read the same thing again? Why should Keaton elaborate extensively on the failures of his second marriage, for example? You don't own Keaton: you owe him. Take the book for what it is, and if you are going to criticize it (which is perfectly all right), do it for what the author wrote, not for what TV Guide readers would like to see in it.
This is a fun book to read, and it's perfectly in line with the rest of Buster Keaton's art. Read it as you would watch the "talkie" he never directed.

Average customer rating:

Bridge Busters
J. Guy Ziegler
Manufacturer: Acacia Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Aviation | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Bridge Busters is the authentic and gripping story of the 394th Bomb Group. The outstanding and valiant struggle of the Bridge Busters is told with grit, compassion and an attention to detail. Each of the 9 chapters is packed with pertinent pictures and a recap by target and results of each major battle. This beautifully bound 170 page edition contains over 360 fully captioned, action-packed photographs and 20 illustrations. From the activation of the 394th in the United States to its deactivation in Germany after V.E. Day, Bridge Busters presents accurate facts and figures on the missions, from the Washington files, as well as interesting stories about the men on the ground and in the air who made them possible. This newly revised fifth edition includes the official U.S. Air Force report on the final mission of Colonel Thomas B. Hall who was killed over North Korea on February 11, 1951, a complete list of casualties as well as two new chapters with 17 current photographs that feature the return trip of 18 former members of the 394th Bomb Group to Europe in the summer of 2001 and a tribute to those service men fallen and buried in World War II cemeteries in Europe.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books