Against All Odds: My Story

Book Description

Millions of people around the world know Chuck Norris as the star of more than 20 motion pictures, including "Delta Force," "Missing in Action," and "Return of the Dragon." Millions more know him as a martial arts expert, the only man in the Western Hemisphere to hold an 8th degree Black Belt Grand Master in Tae Kwon Do. And then there are others who know him from his eight seasons on CBS's longest running series, "Walker, Texas Ranger."

What many don't know is that Chuck Norris is a sincere Christian—a man whose faith plays a role in everything he does. Against All Odds is an inspirational story of how Norris overcame abject poverty from childhood, the effects of his father's alcoholism and desertion of the family, and his own shyness and lack of strength and ability early in his life. Norris writes candidly about how he was able to overcome such obstacles in his life—giving full credit to God.

Customer Reviews:

Chuck Norris.......2007-08-29

Chuck Norris's life story will make you laugh, cry and realize what Jesus Christ can do in your life. Thank you Mr. Norris for sharing your story with the world. A must read for everyone. Recommend 100% to all.

Against All Odds: My Story.......2007-07-05

WELL FOR STARTERS I BOUGHT THIS FOR MY DAUGTHERS BOOK REPORT. SHE HAS NEVER MET CHUCK BUT HEARD ME TELL STORIES ABOUT HIM.
HE'S NUMBER 2 MAN IS KEN GALLACHER ONE OF MY 3 BEST FRIENDS IN THE WORLD AND HAS A CHAPTER ABOUT HIM IN THIS BOOK. KEN GOT CHUCK TO SIGN THE BOOK AS WELL AS HIMSELF. AFTER READING THE BOOK MY DAUGTHER HAS THE SAME GREAT RESPECT FOR MR. NORRIS AS KEN AND I HAVE. YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK FOR SMALL PEAKS OF WHAT GREAT THINGS MR. NORRIS HAS DONE FOR PEOPLE AROUND HIM AND FOR KARATE IN GENERAL.

Inspiring!.......2007-05-16

"Against All Odds" is an inspirational and very enjoyable book! It's full of many interesting stories and therefore, it's very easy to read. Chuck Norris' story is motivation to everyone to set goals, visualize the goals and work hard to achieve them. His career makes for a great story, especially hearing about his supportive mother who always told him: "God has plans for you". She was right! The book is full of many celebrity stories, too! From Bruce Lee to Johnny Carson to Bob Barker and Steve McQueen. I wish the book was longer. I hated to see it end. Also, Chuck shares his religious beliefs and his wonderful marriage and children. I have written down his quote: "Positive thinking gets positive results and negative thinking gets negative results". Chuck Norris is a very positive and inspiring person! I highly recommend this great book! You'll love it!

Go Chuckie!.......2007-03-30

Great bio. I usually don't read bios, but made an exception for Chuck Norris and for Barry Manilow. Also read Doreen Virtue's bio because it was included in one of her angel books.

That said, Chuck's bio is about overcoming obstacles and helping to make the world a better place. I wanted to read his story because I have always liked his movies and got really into the "Walker Texas Ranger" series. I really liked the positive aspects and messages, and the included spiritualism, in the series. I also liked the way the show included respect for and appreciation of the path and knowledge of the American Indian.

Chuck's bio was very interesting and uplifting and included his beginnings through the fairly current times. There are also old through current photos. It's great to read about a celeb that has his head on straight when you see so much tabloid stuff in the supermarkets. It's also great to read about somebody who moves forward in a positive manner to 1)accomplish things, and 2)help others. (No, I don't buy the tabloids anymore, but you cannot help to see the headlines when you're in line to buy your crabmeat in Maryland.)In my opinion, celebs have a big responsibility to the people who look to them as role models, especially the younger people. I am always happy to see a celeb show a positive image to those who would be influenced by him/her.

Inspirational for anyone who reads this book.......2006-12-28

I find Chuck Norris's story amazing because no matter what anyone else said he worked towards and achieved his goals. An interesting concept of this is how he always shows respect and a smile on his face to everyone he meets, even people who scower at him.

He does this because its a proven fact that if you fight someone's negative attitude with more negativity, nothing will get solved and most likely there will be arguments or maybe even fights. This is one of the many lessons you can learn out of this book, go buy it today. I knew I could learn something out of it and I have learned a lot. I'm glad I bought this book.

Average customer rating:

An American Icon
As a glamour photographer myself...
ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL
Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits
EXCELLENT BOOK! Vieira's mastery of the written word brings that era to life.

Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits
Mark A. Vieira
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810934345

Amazon.com

They had faces then, in the golden age of Hollywood when a publicity photo could make or break a star. The visual power of George Hurrell's portraits, with their Rembrandtesque lighting and dramatic poses, shaped the careers of such stars as Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, and Jane Russell, and did as much or more to establish them as their film performances. Mark Vieira, who adopted Hurrell's techniques and uses them to this day, explains how the master portraitist lit and retouched his photographs--a portrait of Crawford before and after retouching reveals what an artist the one-time painter really was--and analyzes their impact.

Customer Reviews:

An American Icon.......2007-08-25

George Hurrell is universally acknowledged THE Hollywood portrait photographer, the man who recreated during the talkies much of the mystery of the silent stars through his breathtaking photographs. At a time when the finest still photography was becoming more incisive and natural, Hurrell managed to balance this new naturalism and directness in highly manipulated ways, producing in his best work iconic images of the great stars of MGM. After the second World War his work became largely passe, appearing too contrived and built up for an age demanding grit and spontaneity and an off-hand naturalness.

This work seeks to both show and tell the story of Hurrell's highwater era as not only the major photographer of the stars, and MGM in particular, but also his development as artist. Breathtaking photographs fill the volume - Harlow on a polar bear skin rug, her gown glowing a burnished white against the softer fur while all around her Hurrell captures an infinite play of lighting, the entire amazing and unrepeatable, a dream world evoked out of the irridescent sheen of an infinity of microscopic silvery gifts left by the platinum negative; Norma Shearer transformed from attractive but doughty into a timeless vamp, surpassing her silent film predecessors with an electric sexuality never before captured on still film; Joan Crawford, Hurrell's great muse at the top of his game, seen in powerful forceful images, unrelenting in their hold on an Apollonian authority.

Hurrell's flamboyant personality, his novel and sometimes off-putting behavior during shootings, seems now unfortunately taken as role template by many lesser fashion photographers. In his day and at his height during the late twenties through the beginnings of World War II Hurrell dominates a demanding and highly accomplished professional field.
Whether you live in a sumptious penthouse overlooking Central Park, need a single book for the coffee table in the living room of that restored Neutra you just purchased, or just enjoy reasonably priced fashion books, Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits fits the bill. At a significantly reduced price its a lovely reminder of one of the nicer advantages of democratic publishing: not every fine art book is a prohibitively expensive limited edition printed by a small press.

As a glamour photographer myself..........2007-04-13

As a glamour photographer myself, this is a book I own and use for inspiration. I love the way Hurrell not only captures the inner-beauty of the subjects, but his photojournalistic approach. I often graze through this book as I've read it many times over--the grazing gets me going when it comes to my own glamour photography. I recommend anyone interested in this book, buy it now! If you'd like to see how it's affected my career, also check out the following books, Garage Glamour: Digital Nude and Beauty Photography Made Simple, Rolando Gomez's Glamour Photography: Professional Techniques and Images and even a book where I have a chapter, Professional Portrait Lighting: Techniques and Images from Master Photographers (Photo Pro Workshop series) This book should not only be on a collector's list, but for any student of photography--we're always learning no matter what level your photography. ---Rolando Gomez, contributing writer, Studio Photography magazine

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL.......2006-08-19

This book -- how beautiful. I have photography books by several of the great portrait photographers of the 20th Century, and this one is the best. There are a wealth of photographs, and the story of Hurrell's life is also interesting. If you ever thought about seriously learning about photography and taking some good pictures, this book will take any hesitation out of your mind. Gorgeous!!

Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits.......2006-07-25

This book is everything I expected. The pictures are great and the text very informative. I am enjoying it very much and it is a valued addition to my film library.

EXCELLENT BOOK! Vieira's mastery of the written word brings that era to life........2005-12-03

I thoroughly enjoyed browsing through and then reading this beautiful tribute to the legendary work of George Hurrell. As compelling as Hurrell's photos are it is the author's indepth knowledge and understanding of Hollywood and Hurrell that set this book apart.

Mark Vieira's own photographic artistry is based on Hurrell's techniques, providing current-day enthusiasts with authentic glamour photography of their own.

Class Act: William Haines Legendary Hollywood Decorator

Average customer rating:

A class act indeed
FAB!!!!!!
EXQUISITE BOOK
Class Read
BIG TOME. BIG TIME MOVIE STAR. BIG TIME DECORATOR

Class Act: William Haines Legendary Hollywood Decorator
Peter Schifando
Manufacturer: Pointed Leaf Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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In the Pink: Dorothy Draper--America's Most Fabulous Decorator
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ASIN: 0972766146

Book Description

First monograph on this legendary decorator's most important interior design projects. A glimpse into the glamorous private world of Hollywood movie stars' homes. Images of interiors by world- famous photographers.

Customer Reviews:

A class act indeed.......2007-08-06

This is a very visual account of the life of one of the greatest decorators of our time. Billy Haines started out as a silent movie actor and when he refused to keep his sexuality in the closet he was fired, forcing him to change careers - and thank goodness. Schifando & Mathison take us on a journey, via photos, sketches, and other images, through the life of Haines and the evolution of his personal style. His classic interiors, which often included a touch of chinoiserie, a unique custom lamp, low chairs, quilted fabric upholstery, and other unique pieces will never go out of style.

FAB!!!!!!.......2007-04-20

Having purchased most of the major design books in the past 4yrs...this one is right up there with the best...5lbs of old hollywood chic mixed with todays blue-blood..must have for any coffee table

EXQUISITE BOOK.......2007-02-24

I am so thrilled to have found this book. I have tried for years to find pictures of William Haines work. This is such a magnificent book. I just wished there were more of what there was. This book is an amazine find and a delightful addition to my collection.

Class Read.......2007-01-05

Being an admirer of nearly all things vintage Hollywood, I was most eager to read a book on this almost forgotten silent screen legend. I was most impressed by the great detail on the man, his loves and hates and his metamorphosis into a highly successful interior designer in later years. The thoroughly entertaining anecdotes throughout also kept me interested until the very end. It gives the reader an insight into a period in Hollywood that has long since been buried by time and our bizarre fascinations with the likes of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton et all.

A must read for any reader of the good old days of Hollywood.

BIG TOME. BIG TIME MOVIE STAR. BIG TIME DECORATOR.......2006-10-16

Part-time P'town resident William Mann's Wisecracker was the first (and definitive) bio of Haines, on of the silent era's greatest stars and one of its first certified heartthrobs. But Haines was gay---something eh refused to hide---and when MGM honcho fired him. Haines began a new (and much more lucrative career) as a self-taught decorator. His work graced the homes of Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Constance Bennett, and mega-watt socialites Alfred and Betsy Bloomingdale an d Walter and Lee Annenberg; even in his death in 1973, Haines` legacy followed, with his associate Ted Graber in charge of the décor of Ronald and Nancy Reagan`s private riddance at the white House. This coffee table book is the price of a good steak dinner (with wine), but the hungry of film fans and stylists and interior designers will long be satisfied by the intellectual text and more than 300 vintage and rare drawing, illustrations and photos.

Average customer rating:

Truly Dull and Soooo Long
Disappointed
Melancholic logorrhoea
What I found in this Irving novel.
This Man is Delusional!

Until I Find You: A Novel
John Irving
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Imaginary Girlfriend (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Trying to Save Piggy Sneed
The Fourth Hand
A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound
A Widow for One Year

ASIN: 1400063833
Release Date: 2005-07-12

Amazon.com

At over 800 pages, John Irving's Until I Find You is a daunting proposition at best. Anyone who finishes it will have acquired forearm muscles, sore shoulders, and not much else. The story is self-indulgent, repetitive and, ultimately, boring, that cardinal sin that readers can't forgive. Longtime Irving readers have stayed with him through a few hits and a miss or two, but this is an all-time low. We are accustomed to Irving's work as quirky, bizarre, and off-the-wall and have forgiven all by calling such high-jinks and characters "imaginative" or "absolutely original." The only thing original about this tome is the descent into soft porn.

Jack Burns, the hero of the tale, is four years old when it all begins. He is the illegitimate son of Daughter Alice, a tattoo artist and, guess what, daughter of a tattoo artist. She takes Jack on a pilgrimage to find his womanizing father, William, a church organist and "ink addict." By seeking out church organs and tattoo parlors, she expects to find him. She doesn't, and by now we have spent more than a hundred pages in Northern European cities doing an imitation of Groundhog Day. Same story, different day: a little prostitution for Alice, a few questions asked; alas, no daddy.

Alice and Jack return to Toronto so that Jack may enter a previously all-girls school, which will admit little boys for the first time. There begins another 200 pages of the girls and the teachers abusing Jack, over and over again. By now, he is five and is, for some unfathomable reason, eminently interesting to girls and women. His "friend" Emma keeps careful track of "the little guy," as she calls Jack's penis, looking for signs of life. The worst part of all this is that none of it is funny or sad or even clever. There are wrestling vignettes, of course, and prep school tedium, but no bears. Maybe bears would have saved it. There were funny parts in The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules as well as poignant, horrific parts in both of those and other Irving novels. This story is flat. The voice never changes; it just drones on.

Jack becomes an actor. First, he is a boy in drag because he is so pretty, then he takes transvestite parts. He and Emma, now a published novelist, live together in LA, which provides endless opportunity for name-dropping. His career eventually takes off and he gets recognition and awards, but still no daddy. Irving, it turns out, never knew his father, either. Perhaps this exercise will exorcise that demon once and for all and Irving's next book will be about something more compelling than a little boy's penis and his trashy mother's antics. If you do make it through to the book's snapper of an ending, you deserve to find out what it is on your own. Call it a reward. --Valerie Ryan

Book Description

Until I Find You is the story of the actor Jack Burns – his life, loves, celebrity and astonishing search for the truth about his parents.

When he is four years old, Jack travels with his mother Alice, a tattoo artist, to several North Sea ports in search of his father, William Burns. From Copenhagen to Amsterdam, William, a brilliant church organist and profligate womanizer, is always a step ahead – has always just departed in a wave of scandal, with a new tattoo somewhere on his body from a local master or “scratcher.”

Alice and Jack abandon their quest, and Jack is educated at schools in Canada and New England – including, tellingly, a girls’ school in Toronto. His real education consists of his relationships with older women – from Emma Oastler, who initiates him into erotic life, to the girls of St. Hilda’s, with whom he first appears on stage, to the abusive Mrs. Machado, whom he first meets when sent to learn wrestling at a local gym.

Too much happens in this expansive, eventful novel to possibly summarize it all. Emma and Jack move to Los Angeles, where Emma becomes a successful novelist and Jack a promising actor. A host of eccentric minor characters memorably come and go, including Jack’s hilariously confused teacher the Wurtz; Michelle Maher, the girlfriend he will never forget; and a precocious child Jack finds in the back of an Audi in a restaurant parking lot. We learn about tattoo addiction and movie cross-dressing, “sleeping in the needles” and the cure for cauliflower ears. And John Irving renders his protagonist’s unusual rise through Hollywood with the same vivid detail and range of emotions he gives to the organ music Jack hears as a child in European churches. This is an absorbing and moving book about obsession and loss, truth and storytelling, the signs we carry on us and inside us, the traces we can’t get rid of.

Jack has always lived in the shadow of his absent father. But as he grows older – and when his mother dies – he starts to doubt the portrait of his father’s character she painted for him when he was a child. This is the cue for a second journey around Europe in search of his father, from Edinburgh to Switzerland, towards a conclusion of great emotional force.

A melancholy tale of deception, Until I Find You is also a swaggering comic novel, a giant tapestry of life’s hopes. It is a masterpiece to compare with John Irving’s great novels, and restates the author’s claim to be considered the most glorious, comic, moving novelist at work today.

Download Description

John Irving has won an O. Henry Award, a National Book Award, and an Oscar. Until I Find You is his eleventh novel. He lives in Vermont and Toronto.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Truly Dull and Soooo Long.......2007-10-16

John Irving is one of my top 5 favorite writers of all time. I'm thrilled every time he writes a new book and can't wait to read it. This one, for some reason, I bought but didn't read for over a year. Then when I started it, I wished I hadn't.

It's self-indulgent, mind-numbingly boring and needs an editor sooooo badly (why is it so many publishers allow their famous writers to ramble on with no editing? It's like they're afraid to edit them!) Such a disappointment, and the worst Irving book I've read. Please please please Mr. Irving, hire a good editor for your next one because, if I have to read another one this awful, it will be the last book of yours I buy :(

Disappointed.......2007-09-27

After having read a fair number of John Irving's earlier novels, I was disappointed with the cardboard characters in this one and the endless elaboration on pointless details. Not once did I get to feel any identification with the main characters. I literally struggled through the 500+ pages of the hardback version.
Apart from Toronto, Maine and LA, the book describes scenes in Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Zurich and Mr Irving has gone through great pains to insert local insiders info, rendering the book into something of a tourist guide. The author indulges here in a writer's trick to add interestingness to the novel, which I found irritating.
The subject matter is fashionable, and only that, and as thin as the paper is was printed on.
I would not recommend this novel.

Melancholic logorrhoea.......2007-08-10

I suspect that once you've reached a certain level of fame, publishers simply stop editing you. After all, whatever you write is destined to sell. Why rock the boat? It's clear that John Irving has reached that level. He's a great storyteller, and his characters are vibrant and interesting, but boy, is his latest novel, Until I Find You, in need of a decent edit.

The book presents an absorbing story which pivots around Jack Burns, a young actor and inevitable ladies man who spends his life unraveling the memories of his childhood. Irving cleverly presents us with a story in the first half which is presented as Jack Burn's childhood. It begins in 1969 with Jack and his mother Alice searching for his runaway father, the organist and tattoo junkie William Burns. The chase is entertaining enough as Alice and Jack go on a grand adventure which takes them through the brothels of Europe, tattoo parlours, and cafes. Jack's naïve perspective on the sometimes wild goings on is both charming and indicative of his later personality as he forms his own brand of understanding of the tawdry situation his mother puts him in. Although they remain close, they don't find William, and go back to Toronto so Jack can get an education at an all girls' school. As you might expect, his education is rather more extensive than a mother might like, and as his father's reputation has preceded him, Jack follows in his footsteps as he is regularly abused, coddled, and mentored into a combination of acting genius famous for his transvestite roles, and compulsive womanizer. As Jack ages, the plot line moves forward through Jack's almost accidental stardom, his long time friend Emma's fame as a writer, and above all, Jack's desire to find his father, and discover himself. All that is good, and there is much here to applaud, from the rich settings that Jack traverses, the well researched sense of place, the funky exploration of the world of tattooing and the interesting melding of the delicate with the rough. The book is populated with interesting damaged characters from Jack's mother Daughter Alice, the delicate Miss Wurtz at Jack's school to a host of dodgy and damaged tattoo artists, porn stars, wrestlers, crazy actresses, psychiatrists, a pregnant aerobics instructor and a few famous actors.

It's a great first draft. But there is so much extraneous material here. From the start of Jack's education, there's a continuum of catalogue-like name dropping that is beyond tedious. From the entire synopsis of the play Jack puts on at St Hilda's school, the complete plotline to Blade Runner, to a catalogue of Oscars won in various years, overviews of what various film stars were wearing at a number of both fictional and real events, the films Jack saw (complete with multi-paragraphed plotlines), to the complete story (so detailed as to be a story itself) of one of each of Jack's films; Irving spares his readers nothing.

Until I Find You never really achieves its promise, partly because it is so weighed down with irrelevancy, and the reader is therefore unable to give Jack the sympathy that such a myopically presented character deserves as he moves from 1969 to 2000. Clearly John Irving is a talented writer, whose extensive research is matched by his extensive knowledge. It's just a shame he doesn't have a trusted editor willing to insist that Irving cut the ridiculous quantity of fluff out of his latest tome. Jack is "a writer, , albeit one given to melancholic logorrhoea. A storyteller, if only out loud." (699). The same could be said for this Until I find You. The book simply doesn't realise its potential, either in terms of its characters or the force of its plot. Melancholic logorrhoea is an excellent description.

Magdalena Ball is the author of Sleep Before Evening
"There is so much beautiful writing here, soaring passages."

What I found in this Irving novel........2007-08-06

John Irving has long been one of my favorite contemporary authors. Having begun reading him long ago with 'Garp', and later discovering the beautiful 'Owen Meaney', I've followed his novels for many years, without much disappointment.

Certainly, as is the case with many authors, there are some works by them you like, and some you don't. However, some of the criticism of others for this novel really surprises me, and seems underserved. No, this isn't my favorite of John Irving's books...but I didn't expect it to be.

'Until I Find You' is full of the usual themes that John Irving has explored in past novels...the only child raised by a strong-willed mother...feelings of inadequacy...loss of loved ones...etc. You cannot read a John Irving novel without seeing these recurring trends, although each of his novels are different, they do carry similar traits.

This story centers on Jack Burns, beginning at age four, holding the hand of his mother, Alice, as they search many North Sea towns and cities for Jack's decamped father, William...whom Alice seeks to make him 'own up to his responsibility to Jack.' A skilled, but fledgling, tattoo artist at the time, Alice plies her 'portable trade' around Europe to earn their keep, while she and Jack migrate from place to place on William's trail.

Years later, Jack (as an adult, and accomplished actor) finds the truth of this 'quest'...as he seeks out his own truth as to why his father was never present in his life.

Other reviews will offer more detail on the plot, and with 200+ such reviews to choose from, I'll refrain from rehashing what has already been said, and just offer my likes and dislikes:

Likes: I enjoyed the tone of this novel, as I have other Irving works. He writes in a very 'somber' way about love and loss, and typically avoids grand 'Hollywood' endings to his novels, even if this one is about a movie star. I enjoy how human John Irving can make his characters, by placing them in extraordinary AND ordinary circumstances, by making them face disappointment, regret, anger, and loss, just as we all do in life. In a day and age where 'thriller fiction' completely misses the boat of characterization, I'm happy to see John Irving will still indulge me. The story is detailed, rich in 'geography' of Amsterdam and other European cities; and full of the wit, insight, and unique visions of life that lovers of John Irving's novels have come to expect.

Dislikes: It's hard to detail my one and only real 'dislike' without giving away much of the plot. Suffice to say that Mr. Irving's protagonist, Jack, got an education far earlier than I was really comfortable reading about. C'est la vie...John Irving does not write 'Little Golden Books'....and even though what I have referred to here is a 'dislike', as a friend told me, 'Keep going, it's worth getting to the end.'

Overall, I really enjoyed this read as much as I enjoyed 'Fourth Hand', 'Widow for One Year' and many other Irving Books. I don't know that John Irving will ever captivate me as much as he did with Owen Meaney again, but...this is a fine addition to my John Irving novel collection.

This Man is Delusional!.......2007-08-01

For an author that has been publishing books for 30+ years, you'd think he'd be able to create an identity of his own by now. But after his eleventh attempt, John Irving tries to write more like Dickens than ever.

The most obvious example: the length. Jesus Christ. If this book was any longer, I think I would have had a seizure and gone blind from irritation. I've heard him say while being interviewed, that a person either has the capacity to read long novels or doesn't. This is b.s. If the book is a good one, I don't care how long it is, I don't care if it's 5000 pages, I'll finish it. If the book is boring and indulgent, into the garbage it goes.

Second: the "peripheral" characters. Dickens was known for the endless amount of characters (mostly pointless) in his novels; so what does John Irving do? He puts about a thousand, trite characters in Until I Find You that have stupid names (Daughter Alice) and stupid tattoos (Rose of Jericho)... and they keep coming, and coming, and coming, and just when you thought he was finished, he throws in about a dozen more.

Third: the tone. Irving, no matter how modern and risque the plot, seems to write in a tightass, presumptuous, Victorian style. The main character in this book is an actor, a very famous one. The way Irving writes Hollywood, especially award-ceremonies, is completely ridiculous. I guess because he wrote one screenplay, he thinks he's got that field covered, as well.

I don't know what else to say. I'm just p.o.'d that I wasted so much time over this worthless book.

Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians, and Writers

Average customer rating:

Finding Creative Colleges/Conservatories
I could have used this
Excellent Book
a great resource for creative students

Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians, and Writers
Elaina Loveland
Manufacturer: Supercollege, Llc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1932662057

Book Description

From preparing for an audition and creating a portfolio to taking standardized tests and filing for financial aid, the entire college admissions process as it pertains to actors, artists, dancers, musicians, and writers is covered in this guide for creative college-bound students. Real-life profiles of students in each discipline, day-in-the-life snapshots, answers to frequently asked questions from admissions directors, and tips on auditioning and preparing portfolios from real students and faculty are included along with samples of artist statements, admission essays, and artistic resumes. More than 125 art, drama, dance, music, and creative writing programs in arts conservatories, liberal arts colleges, and universities are profiled with information that is critical to making the best college choice, such as degrees offered, concentrations, faculty information, cost of attendance, scholarship availability, and alumni accomplishments. An appendix lists books, websites, and magazines that students might find useful in finding the right program for them.

Customer Reviews:

Finding Creative Colleges/Conservatories.......2007-07-05

This reference book helps in choosing creative type colleges or conservatories by providing the facts we need to know before we choose the school, such as how many apply/audition and how many are chosen each year. It lists the department activities, degree concentrations, number of full time faculty, prices, enrollment, scholarships, entry requirements, and prominent alumni.

While certain colleges have been chosen to have in-depth profiles as described above, most creative schools have been listed by state under their specialty(acting, artist, dancing, music, writing) without in- depth profile for you to further investigate on your own. The biggest down fall of the book is that not enough colleges have been chosen for in-depth profiles on their creative departments.

This book also provides examples of creativer resumes and audition / portfolio requirements.

So the book is a starting ground for creative school investigation but must be used in conjunction with other information sources and books that outline creative schools. Use this in conjuction with Peterson's College Guide for Performing Arts Majors.

I could have used this.......2006-01-22

I only wish this book was around when I was researching colleges in NY! It's very comprehensive, simple to understand for any high school senior, and all of the information is up to date. Most other books hardly touch on the creative student- this book specializes in it. I recommended it to all the high schools in my area, and I'm pleased to say that they all love this book!

Excellent Book.......2005-11-05

"Creative Colleges is very informative and it would have been so helpful to my daughter as a high school senior (she is now in college). It is much better to know about the things that are in this book well in advance. It is very helpful for parents and students starting the research. Also, there is very little information out there like this."

a great resource for creative students.......2005-10-23

As if being a student in the college search and application process is not challenging enough, student actors, artists, dancers, and musicians are presented with additional and different sets of options and challenges. Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians and Writers by Elaina Loveland is a great resource for creative students, the parents of creative students, and the counselors who work with creative students.

The information in Creative Colleges is clear, practical, well researched, and well presented. Students will get help with decision-making and advice on applications, auditions, portfolios, essays, resumes, and other aspects of the process. They will also get a feel of what different colleges are like.

Much of the tips and advice is quoted directly from admissions professionals, professors at creative colleges, and from creative students who went through the college search and admission process.

The author is a former editor of the Journal of College Admission. In Creative Colleges, she combines that experience with her background as a writing student and writer and her experiences as a dance student and dancer. The author's experience and empathy for and understanding of the creative student are evident throughout the book.

Creative Colleges is a book that can be a great help every to every high school junior and senior who wants to pursue acting, art, dance, music, and writing at the college level.

Average customer rating:

A brilliant book that I appreciated
AN ACTOR REVIEWS AN ACTOR/DIRECTOR
The singer not the song
Really Good Follow-Up To A Great Biography
The Beginning of the End...a Vivid Portrayal of Welles in the Throes of "Citizen Kane"

Orson Welles: Volume 2: Hello Americans
Simon Callow
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670872563

Book Description

Simon Callow's celebrated first volume of Orson Welles's life concluded with the brash young director unveiling what would prove to be his—and arguably American cinema's—greatest achievement: Citizen Kane. But instead of embarking on an illustrious career in Hollywood, as Callow vividly details in Hello Americans, Welles became increasingly unable to function within the structure of the moviemaking industry.

Hello Americans offers readers a critical look at the years after Citizen Kane up to Macbeth (1947), from his difficult and self-defeating temperament to some of the monstrous personalities with whom he was involved. Callow fully illustrates each film of the period—The Magnificent Ambersons, Journey into Fear, The Stranger, The Lady from Shanghai—as well as Welles's off-screen activities—his dedicated but ill-fated attempts to be a radio comedian and stage magician; his fervent desire to revive spectacular theater single- handedly; his newspaper columns; and his political interests, which he pursued passionately. The result is an expertly researched and elegantly written portrait that will remain the final word on this larger than life genius for generations to come.

Customer Reviews:

A brilliant book that I appreciated.......2006-10-24

For me, this was as much an introduction to a witty author as a way of tracing the fall of Orson Welles' career. I had never read any of Simon Callow's previous books, I was more familiar with his work as an actor, but only sightly.

I've missed something. His voice in prose is bright, and the light he throws on Welles here (and presumably in the first volume, which I intend reading) doesn't allow his subject to hide.

He's clearly sympathetic to Welles, but he doesn't let that sympathy overwhelm his perceptions. His observations on acting and directing have the added weight of someone who has, shall we say, dipped a toe or two in that pool...

AN ACTOR REVIEWS AN ACTOR/DIRECTOR.......2006-10-13

HURRAH FOR CALLOW! A long and rewarding read with actor/author Callow in fine form as he reviews Welles from within the man himself, while weighing every scene and line-reading of Welles's works from The Magnificent Ambersons to Macbeth. This includes a close survey of all of Welles' radio and theatre works as well, which are weighed from within the art of acting. This is a book Welles himself would enjoy though it often takes him vastly to task. If the book has a problem it's that Callow spent ten years writing it and, now at age 78, I fear I may not be around to read the concluding volume(s)--and I'm sure two volumes will emerge from Callow's fine sifting of research materials at the Lilly Library's Welles Collection at Indiana University. As an aside, while reading this bio, I happened upon Callow's brief but inspired appearance in Howard's End as the pompous lecturer on Music & Meaning at the picture's opening where Boham Carter "steals" an umbrella, and caught him bouncing about bareassed at a country swimming hole in A Room with a View. Finally, Callow's work on stage and film sets (and his fine earlier biography of Charles Laughton) gives him special insight into each of the Welles works he studies: lighting, editing, makeup and so forth. Hey, he writes well too, no academese. Now if only Criterion would bring out Chimes at Midnight.

The singer not the song.......2006-09-27

Appropriately for a book on Welles, there is some nifty sleight-of-hand here. Simon Callow's excellent writing and meticulous marshaling of facts distract us from seeing what should become plainer and plainer with each chapter: Welles is really not worth this kind of extended treatment. One great film, a handful of interesting clips thereafter, and a personal life not especially to be differentiated from that of many a spoiled, "infante terrible" hardly justifies 1200 pages...and counting. With ten years between volumes, the pushing-60 Mr.Callow will readily be exonerated if he abandons the project, and taxes his finite resources no further therein.

Really Good Follow-Up To A Great Biography.......2006-09-12

Well, I just finished reading HELLO AMERICANS, Callow's second volume in his Orson Welles bio series, and I have to say, it's a good read.

Thanks to a vast amount of research, Callow really details what happened to Welles after CITIZEN KANE. Particularly good is the section on THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS and IT'S ALL TRUE. Up until now, I've read a lot about this time period in Welles' life, but never has it ever quite made sense; Callow finally manages to do that. He also has cogent things to say about THE STRANGER, THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, MACBETH, Welles' political aspirations (which were all-consuming from about 1942 to 1947), and the various theatrical presentations Welles attempted (including AROUND THE WORLD).

Callow doesn't flinch from describing Welles the man, either, a figure capable of inspiring both devotion (Korda, Wilson, Wallace) and hatred (McDowell, Koerner, Fier). And Callow is the most insightful biographer in that he sees both the Wellescentric point of view and that of the studios (paticularly good passages can be found on p. 364 of the 1st edition).

My only complaint is that some of the quotes Callow uses from Welles' films are inaccurate (is he writing from memory?), and, once or twice, he describes things in the films that I don't remember ever happening (but maybe that's me). However, in summarizing Welles ("Confinement, whether personal or professional, was unbearable to Orson Welles"), I feel he has hit the nail on the head, and such insights more than make up for any small errors that may be present.

In short, this is worth reading, and I look forward to Volume III.

The Beginning of the End...a Vivid Portrayal of Welles in the Throes of "Citizen Kane".......2006-09-02

Calling Orson Welles a Falstaffian figure seems like an understatement when reading Simon Callow's second of what he envisions to be a trilogy of books he is authoring on the life of the wildly eccentric, painfully brilliant filmmaker. That Welles is a subject worthy of a trilogy is almost beside the point as his epic fall from grace after the artistic summit of "Citizen Kane" has been fodder for a number of biographers and film historians. Published almost a decade after his first book, the fascinating "The Road to Xanadu". Callow's treatment in his second book is significant is that he portrays the film auteur as the victim of neither insensitive Hollywood studio moguls nor Welles' own megalomania. Rather, in a balanced, professionally-oriented book, Callow shows both factors coming into play time and again throughout his subject's career. What is particularly enlightening about Callow's research is how he concludes it was Welles' political preoccupations that took his attention away from his creative energy.

The author paints an intriguing portrait of a young New Deal liberal strictly anti-Fascist and very pro-Roosevelt. In fact, his political causes were so engulfing that they it would make his film productions often interminable and obviously uneconomical. The book covers the period between 1941, the year "Citizen Kane" was released, and his self-imposed exile to Europe in 1947. In that relatively fruitful period, Welles produced five films, three stage shows and worked consistently in radio. He was also a prolific journalist, a much sought-after public speaker and an enthusiastic political activist constantly supporting Roosevelt's issues. The most interesting part of the book is that first year when the 26-year old Welles made the much-maligned "The Magnificent Ambersons"; produced and acted in the dark mystery, "Journey into Fear"; and traveled to Brazil to scout locations for two months before coming up with the story for his soon-to-be-aborted film, "It's All True". The key turning point occurred when his patron and protector, George Schaefer, was ousted as production chief of RKO and Welles' legendary Mercury Theatre started to fall apart.

Callow vividly describes how RKO cut "The Magnificent Ambersons" by over a third, eliminated Bernard Herrmann's music score and inserted a ludicrous happy ending. The result was a film no one liked no matter how brilliant individual sequences were, and unsurprisingly, it failed miserably at the box office. While the RKO studio executives had an excuse to minimize Welles after this fiasco, it remains that the filmmaker had a degree of accountability in letting these lapses occur while having moved on to his next film in Brazil. This pattern would repeat himself throughout the filmmaker's career with an almost necessary inevitability. Callow, however, falls short in accusing Welles of allowing his genius overwhelm him in such a destructive manner, and that seems appropriate given the textured portrait the author provides here. A fascinating read even if Callow carefully avoids much of Welles' colorful personal life.

Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologue

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A beautiful swan song for a loving man, husband, father & human.
If you liked his other works, you'll love this fast read.
Spalding gives us something to think about, and departs.
A Bittersweet Homage to Spalding Gray
It's really only 56 pages.

Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologue
Spalding Gray
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Gray's Anatomy

ASIN: 1400048613
Release Date: 2005-10-04

Book Description

As the first decade of the new century was getting underway, Spalding Gray worried that the joy he’d finally found with his wife, stepdaughter, and two sons would fail to fuel his work as a theatrical monologist the way anxiety, conflict, doubt, and various crises once had. Before he got the chance to find out, however, an automobile accident in Ireland left him with the lasting wounds of body and spirit that ultimately led him to take his own life. But as his dear friend novelist Francine Prose notes in this volume’s foreword, “Even when his depression became so severe that he was barely able to hold a simple conversation, he was, miraculously, able to perform.”

As was always his method, Gray began to fashion a new monologue in various workshop settings that would tell the story of the accident and its aftermath. Originally titled Black Spot—for what the locals called the section of highway where Gray’s accident occurred—it began as a series of workshops at P.S. 122 in New York City and eventually became Life Interrupted.Gray died in early 2004, and though never completed, Life Interrupted is rich with brave self-revelation, masterfully acute observations of wonderfully peculiar people, penetrating wit and genuine humor, an irresolvable fascination with life and death, and all the other attributes of Gray’s singular and unmistakable voice.

In the final performance of Life Interrupted, Gray read two additional pieces: a short story about a day he spent with his son Theo at the carousel in Central Park and a brief, poignant love letter to New York City that he wrote after the terrorist attacks in 2001. This volume includes these pieces as well as many of the eulogies that were delivered by his friends and family at memorial services held at Lincoln Center and in Sag Harbor.

[If you had to reduce all of Spalding’s work to its essence, its core, if you wanted to locate the subject to which, no matter what else he talked about, he kept returning, I suppose you could say that his work was a profoundly metaphysical inquiry into how we manage to live despite the knowledge that we are someday going to die. . . .

If there is a consolation, it’s what he left behind: the children whom he so loved and, of course, his work. Reading the unfinished pieces in this volume . . . we hear his voice again and feel the happiness we felt when he sat on stage behind his wooden desk, took a sip from his water glass, transformed the raw material of his life into art, and the crowd applauded each brilliant, beautiful sentence.] — Francine Prose, from the Foreword

Also available as an eBook

Customer Reviews:

A beautiful swan song for a loving man, husband, father & human........2007-07-30

The amount of compassion in this book is simply amazing. Spalding was a normal individual living through extraordinary events that he wove into some of the best monologues & humor to ever grace our eyes & ears. The finality of his decision can never be compromised by our tremendous feeling of loss. He was entitled to save himself from his pain in any manner he sought & I respect him for that. While the hole in our hearts will never be filled, I would only encourage his friends & loved ones to look back on the best of times. I have a feeling He would have wanted it that way too...

If you liked his other works, you'll love this fast read........2007-01-04

I've been a great Gray fan for years. Reading this monologe brings you back into the theater with him again. Read on a quick flight to Boston, I could see hear his monotone stories gain, telling me of his life, and taking me to that wonderful place that only he and old radio dramas could.

Spalding gives us something to think about, and departs........2006-08-18

A celebrity is someone whom you've never actually met, but think you know; not just know about, but know. The celebrity press offers us little bits of enticing, patently untrue information about these imaginary friends every day. Part of our agreement with the idea of celebrity is that we believe these things while knowing (after all, we're not crazy) that they aren't true.

It was easy to slip into thinking of Spalding Gray, who after all never pretended to be anything but an actor and a sort of amateur writer, as a celebrity. Since his confessional monologues included much that was embarrassing and painful, it was easier that way. Apparently, though, every word of it was true. His sadness, his eerily prophetic but still crippling fears, his inability, like so many children of suicides, to get on with his life -- it was all there. It was all, or at least mostly true, and we really knew him after all, and the guilt at not having been able to save him, at having been not an imaginary friend but a real one, and not a very good one, is real as well.

His monologues were surprisingly layered, nuanced and durable works of art, considering he never claimed much for himself as a writer. They are like Chekhov plays without villains -- not so dark, or so funny, and a bit sweeter than you'd like, maybe, but still great, and this is the last of them.

A Bittersweet Homage to Spalding Gray.......2006-05-31

Nearing his 60th birthday in 2001, Spalding Gray was enjoying family life with his wife and two kids, and pondering the next step in his career as a popular monologue performer and writer.

Then a horrific car accident in Ireland changed everything for Gray. Severe injuries left him debilitated for months, with chronic severe pain afterwards, and plunged him into deep depression.

Yet he still tried to transform his painful, frightening and darkly humorous experiences into art, as he has done so many other times. Performing early drafts of his solo memoir of the crash (under the working title "Black Spot", which refers to the patch of road in Ireland where his accident occurred) at Seattle's 2001 Bumbershoot Festival, and later in New York, it looked like he was going to triumph again. But sadly it was not to be (Spalding Grey committed suicide in 2004 at the age of 62, leaving a note stating that he could no longer live with his debilitating pain and depression).

This short book combines that last unfinished script with various short tributes to Gray by actor Eric Bogosian (another favorite performer/monologist/writer of mine) and others.

For 20 years now, I have admired Gray. He was someone who made yakking about his life and himself so engaging and endearing, that I always left his solo monologues wanting to hear more. His books were also equally entertaining.

For any Gray fan, this small book is homage to his unique gifts, and a reminder of the fragility and preciousness of life itself.

Final Grade: A

It's really only 56 pages........2005-11-08

When I saw that it was 256 pages I thought it was all going to be stuff that Spalding Gray had written. I was really excited to get this book, thinking that I'd have at least a few days worth of reading to do. Unfortunately only 56 of those 256 pages are actually his work. The forward by Francine Prose goes from pg 17-49. "Life Interrupted" goes from pgs 53-92 (40 pages). "The Anniversary" goes from pgs 95-109 (15 pages). "Dear New York City" is pg 113. The rest of the book, pgs 121-255, are eulogies. I would have preferred to just get a skinny little 56 page book of only his work. I realize that this book in essence was to be a dedication to Spalding Gray's life and last days. A way for his friends and family to celebrate his existance in their lives and say goodbye to him. It is a good book and well worth the money, but I would have preferred to just get his writings sans wordy forward and eulogies.

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Dennis Hopper: A System of Moments
Peter Noever , and Daniela Zyman
Manufacturer: Hatje Cantz Publishers
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Binding: Paperback

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Dennis Hopper: Paintings, Photographs, Films

ASIN: 3775710302
Release Date: 2001-09-02

Book Description

Dennis Hopper, one of Hollywood's last great cult figures, is best known for his depiction of social outcasts in films such as Rebel Without a Cause and Apocalypse Now, as well as for directing classic films like Easy Rider. Hopper has also, however, made a name for himself as an artist and a photographer. His photographic chronicle of America in the 1960s, a decade marked by awakening and rebellion and documented by Hopper in forceful black-and-white pictures, has now become legendary. A System of Moments, published on the occasion of a major retrospective exhibition at the MAK, Vienna, is a kaleidoscopic documentation of painting, photography, film, and life. It is the first comprehensive publication that takes in to account all of the diverse artistic activities in Hopper's nearly 50-year career, and it examines particularly the subtle connection between genres that is a hallmark of his work. For the first time, recent photographic works, which emerged after a long hiatus from the medium in the 1990s, are also presented. A major retrospective that will be the definitive statement on Hopper's career.

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From the Russian Master himself!
A Life To Aspire To
a first hand account of the birth of the modern theatre
For the actor and the historian

My Life in Art
Konstantin Stanislavsky
Manufacturer: Theatre Arts Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Konstantin Stanislavsky (Routledge Performance Practitioners)

ASIN: 0878305505

Book Description

Written with the same warmth, liveliness and ability to re-create reality that made Stanislavski a great actor, his autobiography tells of his childhood in the world of Moscow's wealthy merchants, his successes and failures as an amateur actor, how he studied human beings, and developed what has come to be known as the "Stanislavski Method," how his group of dedicated amateurs became "perhaps the greatest acting group the world has ever known (Washington Post)," The Moscow Art Theatre.

Customer Reviews:

From the Russian Master himself!.......2007-09-22

Stanislavsky is still the most influential figure in modern or contemporary theater. In this book, he is open about his life especially the rough years in Russia, his first exposure to the theater, his first time at directing. He also writes about his professional relationship with another Russian, Anton Chekhov. He writes about his travels mostly in Russia such as his journeys to Petrograd, the Russian provinces that inspired many of Chekhov's plays, and of course his first journey abroad. The book is really for theater junkies like myself who would have loved to have been a theatrical actress or director but life isn't so bad. He has directed William Shakespeare's tragedies like Othello and Julius Caesar along with Chekhov favorites like The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya and The Sea Gull. Stanislavsky also founded and developed the Moscow Theater Company. He did it all for love, not money nor fame. He became rich in so many other ways.

A Life To Aspire To.......2006-05-08

For those in the arts, and especially those in dramatic art, this book is a must. It is the account of the father of modern truthful acting and a look into what a life spent towards creating art is about. While at times the book can drag a bit and get wordy, there is too much insight and inspiration in this book to pass it by. It is so wonderful to have an account of this mans amazing life in his own words to read, study and eventually aim for.

A must read for those of the stage!

a first hand account of the birth of the modern theatre.......2006-01-15

This book is Stanislavski account of his experiences in working at the Moscow Art Theatre that he Co-founded with Vladimir Danthcheko ( who also wrote a similar book from his perspective titled ' My life in the Russian Theatre'). The book deals with the problems the duo faced in ushering in modern theatre as we know it today and the solutions they came up with. Highly recommended for those interested in learning about this major revolution that happened in theatre at the end of 19th century.

For the actor and the historian.......2000-04-12

"Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art." Truly one of the world's greatest arts educators, Stanislavsky's autobiography is beautifully written. It is a fascinating portrait of the history of modern acting and also of Russian history. Absolutely key for understanding the Method, and the development of today's theater.

Average customer rating:

Fascinating!
Very good an interesting book about an interesting man!
Better Than You Think!
A touching insite into an amazing family
Basically informative, with some mythmaking thrown in

The Bruce Lee Story
Bruce Lee
Manufacturer: Black Belt Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0897501217

Book Description

Here is the complete story of the great martial artist/actor Bruce Lee, told with great personal insight by Linda Lee with hundreds of photos from Lee's personal albums.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating!.......2004-11-03

Bruce Lee was an "original" no doubt..He was an innovative martial artist who created an eclectic style of Gung Fu called Jeet Kune Do, an assimilation of many fighting styles...Bruce didn't believe in systems..he always believed that if you could use something to achieve a result use it! Bruce had many followers and "famous" students..such as Steve McQueen, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, Mike Stone, James Coburn and many others...Bruce would be the first to admit that he was first and foremost a martial artist...He used the movies to bring his "art" to the masses and what an impact he made! His films today are quintessential examples of what a martial arts film should be! This book by his wife Linda Lee is a beautifully written biography that offers worlds of insight into who Bruce Lee was as a person..Linda writes lovingly of their relationship and brings a history of Bruce from a baby to his death at the too young age of 32 to you..Bruce lived his life to the fullest and was not only a great martial artist but a very profound philosopher as well...This is a wonderful book and highly recommended, not only to fans of Bruce but to anyone seeking inspiration in their lives....

Very good an interesting book about an interesting man!.......2004-05-13

Bruce Lee. Some things the average reader will not know about this man: Bruce Lee only made four movies in his lifetime. Bruce Lee was an intellectual. Bruce Lee revolutionized the martial arts. Bruce Lee brought the martial arts to the masses.

This book is written by Bruce Lee's wife. It is a short and loving memory to an extraordianry man who is still famous. Why exactly is a mystery. Perhaps it is the outstanding artistry Bruce Lee brought to the martial arts.

Bruce Lee had been a child actor in Hong Kong before coming to the United States and studying at the University of Washington. Ironically, he was a philosophy major. However, Lee transformed himself into a tremendous human specimen through his physical discipline, and a intellectual regarding his sport. He introduced "the way of the moving fist," which was a new methodology in the training of martial arts. He also dared to tech the subject to non-Asians, a idea which was tremendously disturbing to many and resulted in a fistfight with a young challenger in Lee's studio in Oakland, California.

Linda Lee comes across as a traveler who feels luck in being able to travel (for a brief while) on the road with Bruce Lee. He was convinced to move to Hollywood, where he began training stars like James Coburn, and later Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Unfortunnately, Bruce Lee had to fight racism and stereotypes. At home, his wife's family rejected him because of his Asian heritage. Hollywood rejected him because he didn't want to play the 'chop-suey' roles Hollywood routinely put forth in portraying Asians in film and television. However, a searing performance in the late 1960's on a detective show cemented his star quality,and he made some appearences on "the Green Hornet."

Finally, he made some pictures in the Hollywood system such as "Enter the Dragon."

Unfortunately, his most interesting and allusionary work, "The Game of Death," which was supposed to be a representation of his philophy of his art was never completed. I believe an assembled film was cobbeld together after his death, but the film was never finished. Interestingly, Kareem Abdul Jabbar played the ultimate obstacle in the movie.

Linda Lee's book has many interesting pictures, and I think gives an interesting look at Bruce Lee's life and impact that will have even the most casual reader satisfied.

If you are looking for lurid details, conspiracies and the like this book is not for you. Understandably, Ms. Lee does not cover the topic of Bruce Lee's supposed drug use and the unusual circumstances of his death, but what would you expect, this is a loving portrait by a woman who obviously loved Bruce Lee very much. Cheers for her!

Interestingly, several weeks ago, I watched a Turkish film in which a charecter kept repeating the line, " I will chop them up like Bruce Lee." In a Turkish film for crying out loud.

Obviously, Bruce Lee ahd a great impact on the world for his incredible talent which was taken from us before Bruce Lee could intepret it for the rest of us. In this way, he reminds me of Jimi Hendrix; Bruce Lee was a shooting star across the heavens.

This is a good book, and I believe you will like it as well.

Better Than You Think!.......2002-07-02

Like many Bruce Lee fans, I was dubious when picking up this book, suspecting it would be too sentimental and one-sided, glossing over the "true facts." However, don't be misled-- this book is GREAT. Easily among the two or three best Bruce Lee biographies, if not the best. Very well written, well organized, great rare photos. Linda does a fantastic job of giving us an idea of who Bruce Lee was, from the singular perspective of the person who truly knew him best. Sure, it glosses over the more controversial topics that have surfaced over the years (e.g., alleged drug use, personality problems, the circumstances surrounding his death). But you'll come away with a profound respect for the integrated depth of Bruce's genius, his commitment to his family, and his profound sense of integrity and character. And you'll notice that the qualities Linda chooses to highlight are in fact the ones that come out in his art as well as his screen persona. For example, here's a man who, feeling the weight of racial prejudice against himself, was nonetheless willing to physically fight a fellow Chinese for the right to teach Kung Fu to whites! That story is well-known, but the way Linda captures it illustrates Bruce's commitment to principles and his global perspective. Linda does a great job of balancing Bruce Lee as a profound philosopher as well as a uniquely gifted physical specimen. She makes you understand that it was more than simply his physical gifts that made him who he was. Perhaps Karate master Ed Parker said it best: Bruce was "one in two billion." In Linda's book, you'll be amazed at how disciplined, far-seeing, and erudite Bruce Lee was-- at such a young age. He was simply WAY ahead of his time. One could easily say that, through the medium of film, Bruce Lee singlehandedly effected a paradigm shift in the world's perception of martial arts, Asian males, eastern philosophy, and action films. This book is a very illuminating and satisfying read.

A touching insite into an amazing family.......2002-03-15

As a UK housewife with young children I have virtually no martial arts knowledge and read the book out of curiosity. I found a truly real book about an amazing marriage and an amazing couple. I think Linda Lee is as extraodinary as her husband. I am left feeling inspired about my own life and shall pass on little nuggets of knowledge to my own kids. This book is for people interested in fellow human beings and not just martial arts followers. It is testimony in itself that nearly 30 years after his death Bruce Lee has inspired an ordinary British woman.

Basically informative, with some mythmaking thrown in.......2001-03-16

An OK book, as far as propaganda biographies go. But if you want to read one genuinely great book about Bruce Lee, make it THE TAO OF BRUCE LEE by Davis Miller, which I recommend over any other biography of Lee. Davis Miller's book is beautiful, funny, sad, a pageturner, and it's the only book to sort through all the hokum and myths to give us something real-world and true.

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